By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR – A request from a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee to raise beach vending fees to match revenue raised in other Downbeach communities prompted a stern response from Mayor Beth Holtzman, who said “it’s not worth the aggravation.”
Advisory committee member Peter Kleiner Oct. 22 suggested the city again raise fees charged to veterans to sell ice cream on the beach during the 100 days of summer. He said although there are about 15 veterans who have been selling ice cream on the beach for years, a majority of them do not live in Ventnor.
Although he said he does not speak for other advisory board members, Kleiner suggested raising the rates high enough to match revenue generated in Margate from a contract with a single vendor.
After several rounds of bidding earlier this year that produced no offers, Margate accepted $50,000 a year from Oil Depot NJ, LLC of Haddonfield to vend ice cream on the beach in summer 2020 and 2021. The amount was much lower than the pre-dune high of $93,000 Margate received in 2018 from Jack and Jill Ice Cream of Egg Harbor Township. Longport found itself in the same situation after Paul Van DeRijn of Jack and Jill Ice Cream failed to renew a second year option on his $30,000 contract. On June 17, Longport awarded its license to Oil Depot for $22,800.
Only veterans are permitted to sell ice cream in Ventnor, and they pay a $500 fee to do so, up from $50 two years ago. That increase came in early 2019 at the behest of Kleiner and the Citizens Advisory Committee, who recommended the fee be raised to $5,000. When the commission discussed offering a single license, the community lashed out posting hundreds of comments on social media pages that called the commissioners “anti-veteran” and anti-American.”
Giving away the ice cream vendor contract for less than what the city could receive on the open public market is “obscene,” Kleiner said.
“I really believe, and I think the committee would support me, that we need to bring this up to a level that’s much closer to what we can get on the open public market,” he said. “If we believe we could get $40,000 or $50,000 by putting it out to bid, the veterans should pay something commensurate to that, otherwise its an undue burden on taxpayers to be giving money away to people who don’t live here.”
He suggested a graduated increase to $2,000 for the first year, which would raise $30,000; $2,500 in year two, which would raise $37,500; and finally to $3,000 in the third year, which would generate $45,000 that could be used to bolster the beach maintenance budget, purchase equipment needed to ensure a clean beach or install showers on the boardwalk.
“But right now, in my eyes, if we are getting $7,500 a year, and Margate is getting $50,000, were giving away $42,000 to the majority of ice cream vendors who do not even live in the city. I think that’s as obscene as $2 parking passes,” he said.
Commissioner Lance Landgraf said he agreed with Kleiner that the city could reach out to vendors to come up with a proposal where they could get the city to the same point as Margate.
“I agree with you that we need to find ways to increase revenue in the community, especially with over-expenditures we’ve had with COVID-19,” he said. “Cleaning services alone have cost us thousands of dollars to clean bathrooms for our residents and workers.”
Landgraf said he would like to discuss the issue further with the ad hoc committee.
“If Margate can sell its license…the purchaser of that license is still making a profit, so, in turn, would our veterans if we increased (it),” Commissioner Tim Kriebel said.
Holtzman got the last word in the discussion.
“I understand the need to increase the revenue, however, I take offense to being compared to Margate. I’ve lived here my whole life, and everybody in this room lives here. I’ve been going to the beach since I was 10 years old. Everyone has their own beach and has their own ice cream man. We are a seashore town, we are a town that needs revenue, but we are also a community. We can’t strip the community spirit and atmosphere that Ventnor has for a price. So, I really don’t care what Margate made. We’re not Margate, we never were, we’re never going to be, and I don’t think I want to be Margate. I don’t think anybody wants to be Margate. I think that’s why most people who want to buy or rent are calling Realtors to say, ‘I want to go to Ventnor this summer,’” she said.
“Fifty thousand dollars is not chump change, but I’m going to tell you right now, it’s not going to be worth the headache and not going to be worth the aggravation and emotion that’s going to be stirred up among the 10,000 year-round taxpayers and 30,000 year-round and summertime residents, because we all know what happened the last time we visited this.”
Upon hearing her comments, the room fell silent and the meeting quickly adjourned.
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