With beach season now in full swing, the Beach & Recreation Department has decided to make a change to the day pass system at the Surf Club. Starting July 1 beach goers will no longer be able to pay with cash, only credit card or check, for their day at the beach.

Beach & Recreation Director Scot Erskine said the change was being made “in order to comply with sound accounting principles and to safeguard summer staff members at the town beach.”

Currently Beach & Recreation monitors access and charges on weekends between Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend until school gets out in June and then switches over to a seven-days-a-week system until Labor Day. Day passes for residents cost $10 (resident season passes are also available from the Recreation Office in Town Hall). For non-residents, day passes cost $25 Monday through Thursday and $40 on holidays and weekends.

Visa, Mastercard, and Discover will now be accepted at the Surf Club Main Gate. Madison Finance Director Stacy Nobitz said it is important to eliminate cash from an accounting perspective.

“This change is a continuation of our plan to update our operations,” she said. “At the same time, it eliminates having to hold cash at the gate and helps to protect the Town’s assets.”

First Selectman Tom Banisch said this is a good policy for the town.

“We never liked the idea of kids sitting there with cash,” he said. “I think it is going to make it easier for people to get day passes.”

The Beach Pass policy has attracted attention this year after the department attempted to implement new regulations, including charging visiting sports teams entry to the Surf Club complex. The department also tried to implement changes to the hotel beach pass policy, but Banisch said they have put a hold on that change.

“Last week they reversed the change that they made to the hotel policy,” he said. “Since the 1960s, we had a policy where hotels could have one season pass for every two rooms and then for some reason they changed it this year to say hotels had to buy day passes, which cost significantly more over the course of the season.”

Banisch said the department agreed to pull that change.

“I think it is better for everyone,” he said. “Hotels bring people into town. It is good for economic development that we have these people here.”