Beach tag
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Beach tags are a controversial system introduced by many New Jersey shore communities since 1954 to restrict summer beach access to either residents or paying visitors. Visitors and residents in communities with the beach tag system need to pay a fee for either a daily, weekly or seasonal pass. It has been challenged in court and often upheld. It is seen as a way of keeping out poorer visitors to the beach towns.
Some[citation needed] regard having to pay to walk on a public beach as being as logical if people were charged to look at mountains. Others[citation needed] argue that the cost to service and maintain shore towns and their beaches should not have to be paid by residents. In many[citation needed] Jersey Shore communities, daily visitors far outnumber residents and take up a significant chunk of police, EMS and lifeguard time and attention. Beach tags are seen by some as a way for these municipalities to require that the users of municipal services are the ones who pay for them.
Most New Jersey municipalities with beach access require beach tags for at least a portion of the year.
