For the first time in roughly 30 years, Jersey shore towns won't be able to count on federal money to help pay for beach replenishment projects, which are needed to protect the sandy shores from erosion and to keep tourists coming.

Local officials tell senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan they're losing tens of millions of dollars needed to do the work and that there's a good possibility the funding won't be restored next year either.

(dramatic music) - For the first time in almost 30 years, the flow of sand and dollars for beach renewal down the Jersey shore has stopped.

Army Corps projects in Ocean City, Stone Harbor, and Avalon among others, got zeroed out by the Trump administration.

For Avalon's mayor, that strip of sand is his town's first line of defense during severe storm surges.

- If we don't have the beach in front of it, now it starts getting into our dune system and our protection, the next level of protection.

And eventually it would get to the properties and get to the houses.

- John McCarston says Avalon on its own scraped up and moved 40,000 cubic yards of sand to bolster eroded beaches along the island's North end, an emergency stopgap paid for with local tax dollars.

But he says Avalon needs 400,000 cubic yards and that'll cost millions they can't afford without federal aid.

- So whatever our original budget projections were, they're gone.

Will there be a tax increase?

I would venture to say that's a darn good possibility.

- Even worse for shore towns, the House Appropriations Committee approved just $60 million for Jersey beach replenishment in fiscal year 2026, instead of the typical 200 million.

It's part of budget cuts driven by the Trump administration that blindsided these solidly Republican towns.

- When you think that you have a great Republican group here that are working so diligent for the people of South Jersey, how it slipped away, no one has an answer for that right now.

And hopefully it will be back.

But it was something we never, truly never expected.

- It would be disastrous.

- Democrat Frank Pallone says New Jersey shoreline depends on regular federally funded replenishment, averaging 100 to $200 million every year.

And that erosion and property damage from severe storms would cost taxpayers even more to fix without regular renewals.

- This is only the first stage of what Trump and the Republicans have done to try to cut back on beach replenishment.

And there are a lot of people on a bipartisan basis that will work to try to make sure this doesn't happen.

- Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew, who represents these shore towns, told the Philadelphia Inquirer he's also pushing to renew beach funding in 2026.

But at the same time, we're looking to make beach replenishment more sustainable.

We're working on solutions to reduce the cost of replenishment and mitigate erosion.

- I want to believe someone made a mistake and that it's not an abandonment of our coastal communities 'cause that's sure how it feels.

- Jersey's DEP commissioner explains the federal funding stream has consistently repaired New Jersey beaches.

It's cost over $3 billion since 1936.

- I know there are some who say chasing after the sand and putting it back is throwing good money after bad.

I understand that folks make that argument, but what we're talking about is protecting life and property and the economic vitality of one of our biggest industries, our tourism industry.

So we can't just stop.

- You've been trying to hold a shoreline in place for five decades now that is trying to move.

And it's just gonna get harder and harder in the future.

- Erosion expert Robert Young claims New Jersey shore towns could charge hotel taxes to raise money for beach renewal.

But Young warns trying to keep barrier islands from shifting even as sea levels rise.

- It's gonna get more expensive and you're gonna have to do the projects more frequently and nor'easters are gonna take that sand away faster and faster.

That's just the way it is.

- We keep trying to build on an edge that the ocean wants to reclaim for itself.

I think we're gonna have to rethink that a bit because we're not gonna be able to defend everywhere if this very big historic subsidy from the federal government disappears.

- Coastal ecology expert Tim Dillingham agrees the day of reckoning is moving closer with shifting political priorities up against shifting sands.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

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