Question for Jerseyites

[alpacasrule]

i live in LBI and run past the beach checker every time i surf or skim. if im just going to the beach to chill then i say my mom is coming with the badges. it works every time. Seriously, badge checkers dont care. The only reason that you may run into a stubborn one is because the checker who sells the most tickets gets a $500 bonus. whoopdy freakin doo. but i only had one situation where the checker gave me a hard time (we were yelling at each other for several minutes) but I just ran past her into the ocean. She actually made the lifeguard paddle out and tell us to go in. Luckily i know the lifeguard so he let me go. the law is pointless and rediculous for locals

[aka pumpmaster]

how smart is this. a town hires a staff of 50 plus people for the summer to collect money for that town. am i the only one who sees the problem with that whole plan??

[nittanysurfer]

I get what Tbing is talking about. We go to a south jersey beach, one of which you don't need tags and even though the town has life guards and a beach clean up crew, we often end up picking up trash as well. Of course if more people didn't leave their trash behind, then you'd only really have to worry about paying life guards. I never heard that in OCM you have to pay a 3% hotel/motel tax to pay for beach and community fees. That seems to be a good solution, though some small NJ towns don't even have hotels or board walks...just houses, beaches and tag people.

[MDSurfer]

. I never heard that in OCM you have to pay a 3% hotel/motel tax to pay for beach and community fees. That seems to be a good solution, though some small NJ towns don't even have hotels or board walks...just houses, beaches and tag people.

Actually the 3% add on was put in place to help defray the cost of financing the Convention Center in cooperation with the State of Maryland. When the State sales tax was 5% (now 6%) I worked at a motel that automatically added 3% on to the room tax making it 8%. Restaurants do the same. The nice part of that add on sales tax is that if you rent a room for longer than 100 days (about the length of summer) you don't have to pay the add on 3%, so locals are spared as long as they don't move around a lot.

I thought casino gambling in New Jersey was supposed to cure all your financial woes. At 7% sales tax, you're only .25% behind the California rate, and they always need money. I've always wondered why I see so many cars with Jersey plates down here, and now I know why.

[ritecoastsurfer3]

most places are 9-5 so for the best waves you don't need a badge anyway, i've never paid for one in my life so i don't care but from bayhead to lavalette for 6 miles each oceanfront houses are paying like 20,000 in property taxes a year! if these towns are charging an additional fee where is all the money going?? and everyone here that is really really obsessed with the "i am local" rhetoric brick township has discounted badges for local residents so wear them with pride. . .and the badge checker girls are really hot so i haven't the heart to run past them without a badge. . .only 3.5 weeks to go

[tbing]

I thought casino gambling in New Jersey was supposed to cure all your financial woes. At 7% sales tax, you're only .25% behind the California rate, and they always need money. I've always wondered why I see so many cars with Jersey plates down here, and now I know why.

Casinos have nothing to do with NJ. They are privately owned so basically any profit they turn for the beach is going to Atlantic City.

[xnoonelikesyoux]

Yay! Seriously, Manasquan is about a square mile. The ONLY thing in that town is the beach and houses. The only type of profit comes from tourism in the summer. How the hell would they be able to pay salaries for 50 people for the entire summer. Oh wait, yeah, they could just not have lifeguards, and not clean garbage off the beach, then it would probably look like NYC cause thats the trash that comes there. The 50 people do not include the badge checkers and other people who work there because they have to make sure they make money. 50 is just the lifeguards and crew.

If you wanna complain, take it to NJ Government and ***** all you want at them.

Yoooo ook I finally had to sign in due to the nonsense I've been reading. . . 50 salaries??? Shut up dude. . . You are sooo naive and don't have a clue what you're talking about. . . You obviously don't pay taxes nor own a home because otherwise you would know that Manasquan is a part of Monmouth County. . . So if you did your homework you would know the tax dollars come form the county to pay the lifeguards not the individual town. . . Hence why New Jersey has the ONLY strip of beach (from Sandy Hook down to Cape May) that you have to PAY to get on the beach in the ENTIRE U.S.!!! and yes we have the MOST corrupt system in Jersey and I'm tired of the finds paying to park when I'm a local and pay taxes alll year long. . . F*** Jersey. . . I love the people I know but the winter suits and the government can eat a D***. . . I'm heading south for warmer water and free beach accesss WITH lifeguards. . . Because other states know whats up. . . Wait till you can't afford to live here when you move out of mommies house ***got!

[newboldphilly]

Actually the 3% add on was put in place to help defray the cost of financing the Convention Center in cooperation with the State of Maryland. When the State sales tax was 5% (now 6%) I worked at a motel that automatically added 3% on to the room tax making it 8%. Restaurants do the same. The nice part of that add on sales tax is that if you rent a room for longer than 100 days (about the length of summer) you don't have to pay the add on 3%, so locals are spared as long as they don't move around a lot.

I thought casino gambling in New Jersey was supposed to cure all your financial woes. At 7% sales tax, you're only .25% behind the California rate, and they always need money. I've always wondered why I see so many cars with Jersey plates down here, and now I know why.

Yeah, well, NJ doesn't have tax on clothes, no annual tax on motor vehicles, and the cheapest gas taxes in the country. It also has some of the best schools, the only statewide transit system, lowest crime, best public services and highest household income in the country. You get what you pay for.

Maryland doesn't get anything like the hordes that descend on New Jersey beaches. You guys have 9 miles of ocean beaches. There's not that much more in VA that's actually accessible. It takes 4 hours to get to the Outer Banks from Raleigh. Compare that to NJ with 120 miles of coastline and ALL of it except for Sandy Hook and Island Beach State Park is heavily urbanized. It also has 25 million people living within 100 miles of it. OC, MD has about 1 million people living within 100 miles.

When your beaches turn in to the biggest city in the country every summer you can't just put up some dirt parking lots and a few signs and call it a day.

I used to go out almost every morning in Long Branch before work and I always had to hang my bag on the fence to keep it from getting run over by the beach rake. Those things are expensive to buy and to operate. Lifeguards are expensive. Someone has to pay. In places with a lot of hotels like Atlantic City or Wildwood, you don't pay to get on the beach. The rest of the shore doesn't have hotels so they have to raise the money somehow. Better with user fees than with more taxes. If you live in a beach town in NJ you just go to your borough hall in the spring and buy your season pass for $20 and be done with it. The bennies can pay $6 a day if they want to or they can buy a season pass for $25.

[Aguaholic]

I'm heading south for warmer water and free beach accesss

Amen....So am i man...in a few years i'm taking off to FL for good. Let the Island hopping begin!

[Prey4Surf]

I'm answering for Belmar, NJ

So with the mandatory beach tags, do they only apply during guarded hours, or all times of the day?

They are for about 9-10a, until 3:30 - 4p is the times they usually check. If I go after work I get there at about 4:15p, no need for a badge.

Is there a discount for locals?

Yes if you get a season badge, no if you get a daily. I have 2 season badges. Cost about $60, i think they are about $100 for non-locals. I'm pretty sure most locals pay more than $60, but my gma has lived in Belmar for 60 years, she gets me the badges (I give her the money for them).

Do surfers have to buy and wear them as well?

If you are carrying a surf board or a bodyboard with legit gear, if you get there later in the day, or on bigger days, I've walked right past without showing my badge.

What's the rate, and who checks for them?

Not sure, I think its like $7 or $8 though

Is it a ticketable offense to not have one, or do you get arrested?

If you show up before the checkers get there, you don't need them. Ticketable? No, Arrestable, well if you run past a checker I'm sure they can charge you with trespassing or whatever. But you are obviously going out of your way to get on the beach free even though its not "free" time. Its basically stealing.

What do they use the money for, because I've not seen any beach cleaning machines up there?

Guards, checkers, police enforcement, clean up, dredging, excess goes back to the town.

"Gee Officer, I didn't bring my ID because I'm going in the water!" Are there any excuses that actually work?

What would you need your ID for?