Donlon and Peterpaul on Beach Fee Transparency and Medicaid Eligibility

By Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul

Assemblywomen Luanne Peterpaul and Margie Donlon

With Memorial Day upon us, we wanted to update you on our efforts to make the way towns collect and spend beach revenues more transparent.

The cost of beach badges continues to go up, which isn’t unexpected as costs in general, especially the cost of recruiting and retaining lifeguards, have gone up. But some towns charge substantially more than others even though their levels of service are about the same. We’ve seen season badges selling for as much as $200. Daily badges in some towns routinely sell for $12 to $15.

Historically, the beach has been an affordable family daytrip. Today, a family with three teenage children can wind up paying as much as $75 just to get on the beach for a day, and they may still have to pay for parking. We want to ensure that a family day at the beach remains affordable for all.

Assemblywoman Donlon’s bill, A2293, would require municipalities to include detailed information about their beach revenues, and how the towns plan to spend the money they collect from beach badge sales, in their public access plans. Each town would make public an itemized budget of the actual operating costs of the  previous beach season as well as an itemized projection of costs for the upcoming beach season. If the revenues exceed the costs, the municipality will have to provide an explanation of how they are going to spend the excess revenue. The Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee passed the bill last week. Our LD11 partner, Senator Vin Gopal, has sponsored it in the Senate.

The Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee, of which Assemblywoman Peterpaul is a member, passed her legislation last week to increase the resource threshold for certain Medicaid patients. The bill, cosponsored by Assemblywoman Donlon, was referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The bill, A2215, increases the resource threshold and eligibility limit for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (ABD) eligibility group and the Medically Needy eligibility group. The legislation also increases the amount that qualified applicants to the State’s Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) Program and Medicare Savings Programs may receive to $40,000 for individuals and $60,000 for couples. The current resource thresholds for an individual under these eligibility pathways are $4,000 for the ABD and Medically Needy; $2,000 for the MLTSS; and $9,090 for the Medicare Savings Programs.

Given the high costs of care and the limited finances of people assisted by Medicaid, we must increase the thresholds to ensure they continue to receive the services they need. We will continue to update you on the progress of our legislation as it moves forward.

We also want to update you on Mobile Office Hours, where our LD11 Constituent Services Team takes the office on the road to assist residents in the towns where they live. Today, May 21, the team will be at the Asbury Park Senior Center on Springwood Avenue from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Next Tuesday, May 26, we will hold Mobile Office Hours at the Monmouth County Library – Ocean Township Branch on Deal Road from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Of course, you may always reach out to our office for assistance at AswDonlon@njleg.org, AswPeterpaul@njleg.org, or (732) 704-3808.

We’re happy to help as we continue to work with residents to make Monmouth County more affordable, equitable and fairer for all residents.