CAPE MAY – At a City Council meeting June 21, the governing body approved a pay raise for starting lifeguards, increasing pay from $12 to $15 per hour.
It is the latest move in the countywide competition for lifeguards. One after the other, county municipalities have been restructuring the pay scale for their beach patrols, as they all try to maintain adequate numbers from a shrinking pool of applicants.
City Manager Mike Voll reported that the city is guarding 16 beaches but remains “about 10 short” of being fully staffed. Voll said he hoped the increase in the starting wage would help.
Earlier the same day, Stone Harbor Beach Patrol Capt. Sandy Bosacco told Borough Council that the borough was fully staffed. This follows two years of pay scale adjustments that moved the borough to a strong competitive position.
A starting guard with no experience now receives $155 per day in Stone Harbor, with an increase to $205 per day after Aug. 15, an added incentive to retain guards late in the season.
Stone Harbor is also moving ahead with plans for an after-hour rescue program, which would have four lifeguards on duty in the Beach Patrol building ready to respond to after-hours emergencies until 7:30 p.m. The new program will force the borough to make an emergency appropriation of $25,000 to supplement the Beach Patrol budget.
