CAPE MAY — “Can I see your beach tag, please?”
Summer sales numbers are in and City Manager Paul Dietrich said beach tag revenue from this summer was flat at $3.58 million.
“It’s $150,000 off last year’s mark, but we still have December holiday sales,” he said Sept. 15, adding that if they sell as much as last year, they should be up $50,000 in overall sales.
Dietrich said holiday sales in 2025 accounted for $200,000.
Beach tag pre-sales for the 2026 season were up 36 tags in January. January mail orders through Jersey Cape Tags for pre-season tags were down by 304.
The 2026 pre-season sale for beach tags began Dec. 1, 2025, and in the first two weeks of availability, the city sold 2,427 tags, up 200 tags from the same period in 2024. Online tag sales in December 2025 rose to 700, up 500 from the same period in 2024.
New this season were the commemorative beach tags, which note that Cape May is celebrating 50 years as a historic landmark and 175 years as a city. The first 500 pre-sale tags cost $50 each and then increased to $75.
The higher price point for the commemorative tags was intended to help fund several celebrations the city planned this year, including the 250th anniversary of the United States, an additional Fourth of July celebration and National Night Out.
Beach tags for 2027 are not available yet.
Parking revenue
Dietrich also updated City Council on parking revenue.
“Parking revenue continues to increase, so we’re still up about $275,000 from parking revenue last year,” he said.
The city ended 2025 with parking revenue totaling $2.4 million through November, a $200,000 increase from 2024.
To boost turnover and increase parking availability in high-traffic areas, City Council raised metered parking prices across all zones and extended the season in all but one.
The increased costs marked the first price adjustment in seven years. The $2/hour increase accounts for a 33 percent hike.
The increase came in May, after an April meeting when Martin Van Walsum, chairman of the Municipal Taxation & Revenue Advisory Committee, presented City Council with a strategic overview of parking fees and practices.
Meter rates in the green and orange zones will be enforced from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from April 1 to Oct. 31.
The red zone on Beach Avenue, from Second Avenue to Gurney Street, will remain a 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. parking zone and is enforced from April 1 to Dec. 31.
The blue zone is enforced from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from April 1 to Oct. 31 and the yellow zone is enforced from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. from April 1 to Dec. 31.
Dietrich said the changes aimed to create consistency among the zones. He noted the blue zone does not get much shoulder-season parking, which is why the meters there are on only through Halloween.
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Star and Wave
