NYC strikes a deal to boost pay for lifeguards to ensure city beaches, pools are guarded

Mayor Adams announced Wednesday that his administration will boost wages for city lifeguards this year in an effort to stave off severe staff shortages in their ranks — just a couple of weeks after arguing a salary bump wouldn’t improve the situation.

Under an agreement reached with the DC37 municipal workers’ union, salaries for city lifeguards will start at $19.46 per hour this summer, up from the current $16, Adams said in a statement. In addition, Adams said lifeguards who work every week through the end of the season will get a $1,000 “retention bonus” in September.

The financial deal-sweetener, Adams said, will help “ensure our beaches and pools are guarded all summer long.”

“Every New Yorker deserves to safely enjoy our city’s public pools and beaches this summer and my team has taken extraordinary measures to make that happen,” the mayor said.

During a press conference on June 15 in the Bronx, Adams sung a different tune.

Asked at that event if he thought a pay increase would help the Parks Department attract more lifeguards, Adams flatly replied, “No.”

“It’s not about dollars and cents. It’s about having people that enjoy being lifeguards. Like I do this job because I love it,” he said before emphasizing that lifeguard retention has emerged as a national issue this year and arguing that the city should focus on developing a better employment system as opposed to hiking wages.

Though he seemingly backtracked on part of that argument Wednesday, Adams said in his statement that a salary hike won’t be an end-all fix.

“While these changes are a step in the right direction, our ability to safely open beaches and pools has been impacted by a national lifeguard shortage, and has also been held back by inefficient practices that are in dire need of further reform,” he said. “We will continue to work closely to correct course on policies that don’t serve New Yorkers and pool resources from all agencies to ensure a fun and safe summer.”

To that point, Adams and DC37 also agreed to create a new class of lifeguards who will be restricted to staffing the city’s 17 mini pools.

“With this influx of mini pool guards we will be able to very quickly open all of our mini pools, an essential cooling center for young New Yorkers,” he said.

The action from Adams comes as the city struggles to man its 53 pools and 15 miles of beaches.

According to Parks Department spokeswoman Meghan Lalor, there were only 778 lifeguards patrolling city beaches as of Wednesday — a far cry from the roughly 1,500 lifeguards the municipal government aims to keep on the payroll during the summer. Lalor said more lifeguard candidates are already in the pipeline, though.

“We are continuing to certify, so there will be more,” she said.

Beach safety in the city came under renewed scrutiny after two people died in separate drowning incidents in the Rockaways on June 17. However, neither of those deaths appear to have been correlated with the lifeguard shortage, as the two individuals who drowned entered the water after 6 p.m., when lifeguards typically clock off for the day.