CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On Tuesday, the Island Strategic Island Committee raised their concerns on wanting an increase in lifeguard pay for Corpus Christi beaches.
ISAC chairman Jay Gardener said lifeguards are essential for local beaches to keep residents safe.
"We need more, because there is a shortage its the same thing with police or fire, safety comes first," Gardner said.
With the current low pay, Gardner said it is hard to recruit lifeguards.
"The gulf beach manager has a hard time filling all the positions every season, so there is a always an opening for life guards, and there is always a shortage of life guards for our beaches," Gardener said.
Gardner said lifeguards wages currently start at around $14 an hour in Corpus Christi, while in Galveston and even in Port Aransas they start at $18 an hour.
CEO for the Galveston Park Board Kimberly Danesi said they recently raised their lifeguard pay and have already seen a difference.
"We saw the impact of it already this past year I anticipate that that is what we will see this next year too, which is that we have had the best recruitment seasons that we have had on record," Danesi said.
Danesi said being fully staffed helped the beaches operate properly.
"We were able to operate as efficiently as we have been in I would say in the last 10 years and that pay increase I know contributed to that," Danesi said.
Gardener said the pay for Corpus Christi lifeguards needs to be competitive in order to to only attract but retain more lifeguards.
"There is a disparity in this lifeguard pay and that is the premise in this resolution the Watershore Beach Advisory Committee came up with is to just even the playing field," Gardener said.
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