Should Residents Pay for Sandy Point Beach?

Among the numerous ideas being kicked around by town officials to raise revenues is the possibility of exacting a fee for use of Sandy Point Beach by town residents.

Right now, residents can access the beach for free and nonresidents pay $7 on weekdays and $12 on the weekend.

During a budget workshop on Monday, Town Council President James Seveny said that something should be done since the beach continually loses money.

According to a report by EastBayRI.com, the beach raised just $9,000 in revenue in 2013 while it cost the town $62,142 to run.

One suggestion was to charge residents $80 for an annual beach sticker. 

The revenue could fund beach improvements as well as potentially make the beach a money generator instead of a money pit.

The change would be similar to the arrangement at other town-owned beaches, notably Narragansett Town Beach, which generated $1.9 million for that town in 2013. 

Narragansett charges an $8 per person daily pass fee and seasonal passes are available to residents for a fee of $25 per year for adults, $10 for children aged 12 to 17 and free for seniors over 62. Nonresidents can pay $50 per year for a pass for adults and $20 for children and seniors. 

Those passes are non-transferrable although a $200 transferable pass was approved by the Narragansett Town Council recently.
 
It must be noted that Narragansett's town beach is a huge tourist destination in addition to a place frequented by locals and that town also collects significant sums by charging for parking.

Sandy Point Beach will never become a cash cow like in Narragansett, but the point remains that town officials are looking everywhere to generate additional revenue without subjecting residents to greater tax increases than they already face.

Portsmouth's Finance Director Jim Lathrop said the council has been riding that theme during the budget process, which he described as a fairly smooth process.

It's his first budget season here in Portsmouth and "it has been going well and the council has been making progress," Lathrop said. 

The town entered the budget with a $900,000 surplus, according to a recent audit and the council has been been making minor adjustments to Town Administrator John Klimm's proposed $57.8 million budget, which calls for a 2.4 percent tax levy increase over last year's budget.

Among the adjustments are the tentative additions of two public works positions and a $120,000 reduction to the school district's request, reducing the proposed increase to the school contribution from $725,000 to $600,000.