Driven by Personnel Costs, Beach Badge Prices to Rise in Seaside Heights

The Seaside Heights Beach Control/badge station. (Photo: Shorebeat)

Seaside Heights, like many neighboring Shore towns, has faced staffing challenges in recent years as a nationwide employment crunch and new minimum wage laws have created more competition and higher pay in private industry seasonal jobs.

As a result, officials on Wednesday passed a measure that will raise the cost of beach badges next season in Seaside Heights. Meanwhile, the vendor which managed the company’s app-based payment processing for beach badges, Viply, has ceased operations, meaning the borough will look to alternatives for the summer of 2024.

“There are hard costs that have gone up with inflation, but this is driven more by the cost of personnel,” said Borough Administrator Christopher Vaz. “You have to be competitive to hire people and this brings us more in line with the surrounding towns.”

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For 2024, season badges will cost $55 per badge if purchased on or before Dec. 24, 2023; $65 if purchased between Dec. 25 up to May 15, 2024; and $75 if purchased on or after May 16, 2024. The fees increased by $5 over last season.

Daily badges will rise from $10 per day to $13 per day; weekly badges will rise from $35 to $50.

Senior citizen badge prices will remain unchanged at $15 each or two senior badges for $25.

The demise of the Viply app means officials, next season, will either have to invest in terminals to process credit cards at sales booths or find another automated method to sell them. One possibility is a unique vending machine that can “print” daily wrist bands.

“It’s a great idea,” said Vaz. “A couple of our employees were just at a tourism industry conference and they brought back really good information on companies that are cutting edge with that kind of technology.”