HAMBURG, N.Y. — Woodlawn Beach in Hamburg will go back to being run by the State of New York next year, after a 10-year lease the two sides had runs out.
The decision to not renew that lease was made Monday night at a town board meeting. The town says it’s just too costly to run it.
According the town supervisor Jim Shaw and council members, who voted not to renew the lease, this means the town after this year won’t be losing money here. And the hope is that money can be diverted to fixing up other places in the town.
How much of a financial drain has Woodlawn Beach been on the town?
“It’s a substantial financial drain, and when I say substantial, conservative estimates put the losses at about $150,000 a year,” Shaw said.
In 2009, when state parks were closing across the state due to budget cuts, the town offered to run the beach, and a 10-year lease was signed. But in recent years, Shaw says revenues have sunk and expenses have gone up on expenses such as police security and buildings and grounds overtime.
“The revenue remains somewhat constant, and if you have a bad day where the water is too heavy on toxins and you can’t swim, the revenue goes down,” he said.
Monday night the town board voted 3-2 to not renew its lease with the state. A spokesperson for New York State Parks and Recreation says the state will keep the beach and park open and will resume operations next year.
In 2020, how much of a financial responsibility would the town have to Woodlawn Beach?
“None. Zero,” Shaw said.
Even for security?
“It will be a state beach and park, so if they’re going to operate it as they’ve indicated last night, they have state park police, and they will do the security work,” Shaw said.
As for what it means for taxpayers: “We hope that the employees that were used for maintenance and operation at Woodlawn can to some extent be relocated to the town beach and that beach can be improved,” Shaw said.
2 On Your Side confirmed with the state that in 2020 there will be parks police and lifeguards.
The state said it would make a series of improvements here, such as adding bathrooms and putting in an automated parking gate, if the town and state reached a deal, but because one was not reached, it’s unclear where those maintenance improvements stand and what the parking fee will be. For now it’s $7.
2 On Your Side heard from council member Michael Petry, who voted to renew the lease. He says that the town would do a better job than the state and bring certainty that the beach would remain open.
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