Beach fees are rising this summer in some Jersey Shore communities, where officials say the increases will help fund a pay hike for badge checkers and lifeguards needed to meet or exceed rising minimum wage requirements and compete in a tight labor market.

“We have to be able to attract people,” said Robert Brice, the borough administrator in Lavallette, which is raising its beach pay and its fees. “Last year we had a very difficult time competing with the market rate. We weren’t fully staffed.”

Effective June 20 through September 7, the cost of daily beach badges will go from $10 to $12, with weekly badges rising from $30 to $35. The Borough Council approved the increases on Monday night, when Brice said the council voted 5-0 vote to adopt its annual resolution specifying beach fees and hours, even though the issue had only been scheduled for discussion.

This summer will also see an increase in the cost of seasonal badges to $50 if purchased before the start of the season, and $60 for badges purchased after the June 20 start of the season, a hike approved by the council last fall, Brice said.

The minimum wage hike signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in February 2019 will gradually raise wages for most workers to $15 an hour by 2024, after the state’s hourly minimum had been $8.85 before the new law took effect. In January, the law’s latest increment raised the minimum to $11 an hour for most jobs and $10.50 an hour for seasonal work.

Lavallette is hardly alone among shore communities in having to hike what it pays beach workers to meet wage requirements and compete for summer help, nor in raising the cost of beach badges to help fund the pay increases.

The Stone Harbor Borough Council in Cape May County, for example, voted Monday night to raise the pay for lifeguards and badge checkers, deeming the move to be, “in the best interest of the borough to provide a more competitive wage," as the resolution raising the pay stated. Stone Harbor also raised the price of its seasonal and weekly beach badges, from $23 to $25 and $12 to $13, respectively, though the $6 price of a daily badge did not go up.

Mantoloking, in Ocean County, raised its beach pay to meet minimum wage requirements, said Police Chief Stacy Ferris. However, the borough did not raise its beach access fees, which start at $10 for a daily badge.

Brice said the borough will begin is summer recruiting this week in high schools, colleges and other sources of summer workers, now that the pay hikes have been approved.

Brice said the borough will begin its summer recruiting this week in high schools, colleges and other sources of summer workers, now that the pay hikes have been approved.

Robust recruiting of badge checkers is critical this year, Brice said, after the number of beach access points more than doubled last year as a result of a protective dune project by the Army Corps of Engineers intended to safeguard the borough from storm surges like Hurricane Sandy’s in 2012.

Rather than the borough’s pre-Sandy access configuration of a dozen ramps from the boardwalk down onto the sand, the Corps created 28 beach access walkways that arc over the protective dune onto the beach. As a result of the higher number of access points, the borough had a harder time staffing them all last summer, and Brice said it was apparent from the number of people encountered on the beach without badges that many were taking advantage of the unstaffed access points to sneak onto the beach without paying.

Insuring that everyone pays to get onto the beach by fully staffing access points, Brice said, will generate revenues to help offset the cost of hiring additional workers, even at the new, higher pay rates.

Mantoloking was also included in the Army Corps dune project, but Ferris said the number of beach access points did not increase, and so more badge checkers are not needed.

Lavallette officials say a hike in beach fees this summer is necessary to help pay higher wages to badge checkers and lifeguards under a minimum wage law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in February 2019. Murphy, standing at the podium, appeared on the beach in Lavallette for an unrelated event earlier this year with U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, right.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips