A day at Narragansett Town Beach could be more expensive next summer. Here's why

NARRAGANSETT – Spending the day at Town Beach could be more expensive next summer.

The town's Parks and Recreation Department proposes raising the daily walk-on admission fee from $12 to $15 and raising the parking fee from $10 on weekdays and $15 on weekends to $20 every day. (Prices of discount seasonal passes, which are available only to Narragansett residents and taxpayers, would not change.)

For a family with two teenagers, the increases would bring the price of a day at the beach to $80.

"I think raising fees is a necessity," Parks and Recreation Director Michelle Kershaw told the Narragansett Town Council at a Tuesday night work session.

Narragansett Town Beach is one of the most popular beaches in Rhode Island, and the only one that charges an admission fee to walk on. In recent years, some residents have clamored to raise fees in order to reduce crowding on busy summer days, while advocates for coastal access have argued that doing so would be exclusionary.

More: The little-known story of why Narragansett can charge you admission at Town Beach

Parks and Recreation Department cites smaller profit margin

Narragansett Town Beach is self-supporting: The town operates a Beach Enterprise Fund that is fully funded by beach revenues. All costs associated with running the beach are covered by that fund, rather than by residents' taxes.

Though the fund currently has a healthy balance, Kershaw warned that it could be easily wiped out if the beach incurred significant damage from a hurricane. She argued that fees need to increase in order to prevent eventual depletion of the fund. Though revenues consistently exceed the cost of running the beach, that margin is getting thinner, she indicated.

After growing steadily for several years, the beach enterprise fund balance fell from $4.6 million in the fiscal year 2020 to $4.1 million in 2021, according to Kershaw's presentation. Meanwhile, the fund's overall profits went from roughly $646,000 in 2020 to about $157,000 in 2021. (Audited figures for fiscal year 2022, which ended in June, aren't available yet.)

"I think that adjustments in fees is necessary to be able to sustain the enterprise fund," Kershaw said. "If we don't, the enterprise fund is going to continue to be depleted. And I just don't think that's how and why the enterprise fund was designed. The beach should be self-sustaining and self-supporting."

Asked why profits had shrunk, Kershaw pointed to a number of factors, including an increase in minimum wage, and increased costs for supplies and building maintenance.

"It’s a totality of everything that goes into making the beach run," she said, adding, "Running the beach is not ever going to cost us less. It’s going to cost us more."

More:Everything you need to know about Rhode Island's minimum wage in 2023

What other options are being considered?

In addition to raising rates for non-residents, the recreation department also hopes to raise the cost of a seasonal parking pass for residents from $50 to $75. Kershaw said the cost of a resident parking pass has remained unchanged for 11 years, so she "didn't think it was egregious" to raise it next summer.

Also being discussed is the prospect of raising the cost of "commercial transferable passes." Owners of rental properties in Narragansett can buy up to five season passes that they then offer as part of a package deal, Kershaw said.

"Those passes can be used by any renter, any person that rents that house throughout the entire summer," Kershaw said. "So if they have one-week rentals, two-week rentals, one-month rentals ... those passes can be used by 300 people throughout the summer."

Last summer, a commercial transferable pass cost $200; Kershaw is suggesting raising it to $300. She also suggested that the town consider imposing a 3% fee on credit-card transactions to offset the processing fees incurred by the town.

Changing political tides

Last year, identical fee hikes for daily parking and admission were proposed by the town's Recreation Advisory Board, but rejected by the Town Council.

This year, the political balance has shifted. Two council members who had been prominent advocates for coastal access and strongly opposed raising admission fees – Jesse Pugh and Patrick Murphy – did not seek reelection.

The newly sworn-in council did not hold a vote or come to a consensus about raising fees on Tuesday night. None of the five members expressed outright opposition to the idea, though some of the returning council members indicated that they wanted to proceed cautiously.

Councilwoman Susan Cicilline-Buonanno said that she wanted to ensure the beach would remain affordable for families and was concerned about it being a money-making enterprise.

"I don't think that was the original intent of the actual fund," she said.

Councilwoman Deborah Kopech noted that while a daily parking fee of $20 would be in line with what other beaches charge, Narragansett is unique in that it also charges a walk-on fee.

"We need to take that into consideration," she said.

President Pro Tem Jill Lawler, who was voted back onto the council in November after a brief hiatus, said the town's ultimate goal regarding the beach should be keeping resident fees down.

"I do believe, as you stated, that the beach is a revenue source," she told Kershaw. "We should look at it as a business. The town is a business, and we haven't been looking at that."

Why can Narragansett charge a walk-on fee?

Narragansett's policy of charging a beach admission fee on top of a parking fee is a frequent source of consternation.

But, technically, nothing is stopping other towns from doing the same thing.

A 1997 Rhode Island Superior Court ruling that resulted from a challenge to Narragansett's admission fee held that Rhode Island's Constitution guarantees only lateral access to the shoreline, not perpendicular access.

Broadly speaking, that means that you have the right to walk along the high tide line on any beach in Rhode Island. But you may not be able to get there, because you aren't guaranteed the right to walk from the road or the parking lot down to the water's edge. Most of the dry sand portion of the beach is considered private property – or, in Narragansett's case, town property.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: $80 for a beach day? Narragansett Town Beach could get more expensive