Higher Fees Approved for Waterford Beach

Monday night, the Waterford Representative Town Meeting approved increasing the entrance fees to Waterford Beach Park, particularly to out-of-towners.

Season passes for residents will increase from $15 to $20, and from $80 to $100 for nonresidents. Nonresidents will pay more for daily passes as well, as the RTM agreed to increase a weekday daily pass for nonresidents from $10 to $20 and weekend daily pass for nonresidents from $20 to $30.

Even after the increase, Waterford still has among the cheapest rates for residents, Recreation and Parks Director Brian Flaherty said. However, Waterford Beach Park will now be slightly more expensive than surrounding beaches, as before it was among the cheapest for nonresidents, he said.

If everybody were to buy the same amount of beach passes as last year, the Recreation and Parks Commission would make another $40,000 off of beach passes, Flaherty said. The only RTM member to vote against the increase was Marc Balestracci.

The recreation and parks department only charges entrance fees for Waterford Beach Park between the third week in June and Labor Day, which is when the beach is staffed with a lifeguard.