Long Beach City Council approves beach pass increases

To the chagrin of many residents, beach-goers will have to shell out more dough this summer, after the City Council voted 4-1 on May 1 to institute the city’s first seasonal beach fare increase since 2007.

Resident family plans will now cost $60 for the season; up from $50 last summer, while non-resident family passes will cost $120, up from $100 last summer.

Additionally, the city’s beach pass for non-resident individuals is also going up from $70 per year to $80, and the economy pass, which allows 10 admissions to the beach per season, is increasing from $60 to $80. Daily beach passes, however, will remain at $12, officials said.

“One of the things that we looked at was that the fees have not been raised internally [since 2007], and that was really the only thing that we haven’t been able to bring up,” said Council Vice President Len Torres. “But we thought that if we brought it up by $10, it would bring us in a certain amount of revenue that would be very helpful to the city right now.”

As the city grapples with a $10.2 million deficit, city officials said the city expects to raise more than $200,000 in additional revenue through the increased fees.

“The beach is a great asset, but it’s also a very expensive property and all the people that are using it should pay and the people who are nonresidents should pay heavier because our residents already pay taxes,” said Councilman John McLaughlin.

McLaughlin said if it were up to him, he’d like to keep resident fees down and charge non-residents the higher rates.

“It’s unfortunate because we can only raise non-residents double what residents are paying,” he said.

Councilman Mike Fagen disagreed with the hikes and cast the sole vote against it.

“My feeling is that the city needs to show substantial cost savings before we raise taxes and fees,” Fagen said. “This is just another hardship for the residents that they don’t need.”

A number of residents also criticized the increases.

“The ocean is our number one revenue source other than the taxes, and you’re already raising our taxes,” said James Lynch. “We should be looking to get the money from the people who come down here and use our resources.”

What it costs to get on the beach:

Resident individual $40.00

Resident family $60.00

Resident senior $15.00

Non-resident individual $80.00

Non-resident family $120.00

Non-resident senior $30.00

Child pass $20.00

Physically challenged $15.00

Economy $80.00