Lavallette Beach Patrol vehicle, Aug. 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Lavallette experienced one of the busiest summers in the borough’s history in 2023, not only in initial estimates on traffic and utilities usage – but beach badge sales.
“We had a record-breading year this year on the revenue side,” said Councilman Michael Stogdill.
Altogether, the borough brought in $1,323,866 as of the end of the Labor Day weekend, though the numbers were apt to change slightly once all accounts were reconciled. Stogdill said the total would put the borough about $60,000 over last year. The previous record for beach badge sales was set in the 2020 pandemic year, when the borough sold $1,268,844 in badges.
Officials will now parse through the records and see which types of badges were most popular, which days of the week drew the most crowds and take everything into consideration to better serve beachgoers next season. Already, officials are planning on adding more handicap-accessible matting next season, having received grants to do so.
“Dailies and senior badges increased over last year,” said Stogdill. “Weeklies were down some. All of the other categories like parking, and disable and veterans badges were a wash.”
While the summer brought mild weather and plenty of sunny days, rough surf and frequent rip currents – especially toward the end of the season – made things a bit “chaotic” at times, said Stogdill, but the town’s beach lifeguard squad kept swimmers safe, including one final out-of-town save a block north of the municipal border over the holiday weekend at one of the private beaches in Toms River.
Lavallette beach on ‘Tumbleweed Tuesday’ 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)
“It was great all around working as a team, and that goes beyond the beach, with code enforcement and the police department,” said Stogdill. “The communication this year was above and beyond, and made it so much easier this year.”
So, what does a beach patrol do after Labor Day?
“The planning for next year started at 6:01 p.m. Monday night,” Stogdill said.
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