New Jersey report reveals Lifeguard Pension problems in Shore Towns

The history of Lifeguards in New Jersey is unique compared to the rest of the United States. The Garden State is home to the oldest lifeguard organizations, and the annual Lifeguard Racing Competitions are a special element you find with NJ Lifeguard Associations.

The Atlantic City Beach Patrol is recognized as the first fully operational lifeguard service, starting in 1855.  Other South Jersey towns like Ship Bottom (1872), Ocean City (1879), Longport (1888), and Avalon (1905) are among the oldest organized patrols in the state.

The New Jersey Legislature passed laws between 1928 and 1936 requiring municipalities to provide pensions for retiring lifeguards, although enforcement of these laws did not take hold until another 60 years later.

But a new report from the New Jersey State Comptroller revealed that there are six municipalities with underfunded lifeguard pension plans that are facing serious deficits to fund the program's obligations.

Lifeguard Pensions underfunded by Tens of Millions of Dollars

The Audit Division of the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) issued a report revealing that six New Jersey Shore Towns have underfunded lifeguard pensions and two New Jersey municipalities are in violation of the state lifeguard pension laws.

Asbury Park and Long Branch do not have lifeguard pension programs. They dispute that the lifeguard pension laws are "unconstitutional" and "unfairly imposes costs" on municipalities. Court rulings from the 1980s and 1990s upheld the legality of the New Jersey lifeguard pension laws.

The six municipalities that have lifeguard pension programs that are underfunded:

*Atlantic City: $21.6 Million shortfall
*Brigantine: $4.5 Million shortfall
*Longport: $2.4 Million shortfall
*Margate: $1.8 Million shortfall
*Sea Isle City: $562,000 shortfall
*Ventnor City: $3.3 Million shortfall

The following New Jersey Shore Towns did not supply data for the costs of their lifeguard programs:

-Cape May
-North Wildwood
-Wildwood
-Ocean City

The conclusion of the report is that the long-term benefits of the lifeguard pension program "fails many of its stakeholders". Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh gave the following statement after the report was released:

“The state needs to scrap the pension mandate. It saddles a small number of municipalities with a significant financial burden, and it just doesn’t make sense to give lifelong pensions for seasonal jobs"

The lifeguards are an essential part of the Summer season at the Jersey Shore. Cape May and Atlantic City are two of the oldest municipalities that pay guards to patrol and watch over beachgoers venturing into the Atlantic Ocean.

South Jersey Lifeguards are men and women who work hard to train to be their best to protect visitors to the beaches they patrol. Hopefully, these Jersey Shore Towns can continue to take care of the lifeguards, and politics do not get in the way of doing what is right both the lifeguards and beachgoers who depend on them for decades.

Currently, 11 of the 20 most popular New Jersey Beach Towns have paid Lifeguard Patrols actively watching over beachgoers every summer: