Stickers required to park on Port A beach

V isitors who haven't parked on Mustang Island beaches in a year

or so may be in for a

slight shock this Fall. The price of beach parking stickers has gone from $6 for an annual parking pass to $12.

The increase applies no matter whether the sticker is bought at city hall or at an area Stripes convenience store, the Family Center IGA, or one of the beach concessionaires where stickers are sold.

The stickers are required to park anywhere along Mustang or Padre Island beaches except in the Nueces County park between the south jetty and Horace Caldwell Pier, in Mustang Island State Park, and on the Padre Island National Seashore.

Officials asked for the increase because it simply costs more to maintain the beach than stickers were bringing in. Sticker prices hadn't increased for more than 10 years, Port Aransas Finance Director Judy Lyle said.

Even at $12, the stickers are a great bargain, Lyle pointed out. One sticker allows users to park anywhere along the beach except Mustang Island State Park and the Padre Island National Seashore. Day users don't need stickers in the Nueces County Beach Park (between the south jetty and Horace Caldwell Pier) or at the park campground. Overnight campers in the beach park area must buy a county parks sticker, however.

At the same time, both city police and Nueces County Constable Precinct 4 are continuing their increased enforcement of the sticker requirement. Beach visitors should be careful about littering on the beach and carrying glass containers, also. Both are illegal, and beach patrols have recently stepped up their enforcement of both offenses.