BEACH PARKING REVENUE TO TOWN INCREASES

The elasticity of supply and demand is difficult to predict, but the Parks and Recreation Department did a pretty good job as data from this past summer at Compo Beach shows the revenue increased, despite price hikes.

“The town was able to improve conditions at Compo Beach and grow revenue at the same time,” the advocacy group Friends of Compo Beach wrote in an email to the organization’s supporters.

Overall revenue increased 3 percent from the 2017 beach season, growing from $1,465,262 in 2017 to $1,509,611 in 2018, according to data provided by the Parks and Recreation Department.

“Given we had no clue what would actually happen when we raised prices, the fact that we were really close is amazing,” said Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman Charlie Haberstroh.

A year ago, the commission and town’s Board of Selectmen voted to increase the price of parking at Compo for out-of-town residents roughly 50 percent, after a slew of complaints from residents about beach conditions during the 2017 summer beach season.

The price of seasonal beach parking prices for nonresidents increased from $490 in 2017 to $775 in 2018, and the number of seasonal parking passes allowed for nonresidents was capped at 340, down from 600 passes in 2017. Additionally, daily parking passes for residents and nonresidents increased from $30 to $40 on weekdays and $50 to $65 on the weekends and were capped at 100 per day.