New London — After three tough years that included pandemic restrictions and rainy weather, the manager of Ocean Beach Park is counting on a big season — and boosting its rates to help compensate for losses.

The rate increases presented to the City Council by park manager Dave Sugrue this week will not affect the rates of season passes for residents but will increase the day parking rates, which will rise by $5 to $25 on weekdays and from $25 to $30 on weekends.

The changes were approved by the City Council on Monday.

“Ocean Beach Park has had an incredibly challenging three years,” Sugrue told the council at Monday’s meeting.

In 2019, the Port ‘N Starboard banquet hall was closed during renovations after a storm had caused damage that exacerbated ongoing problems in the building.

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the park was forced into the unusual position of turning away visitors to abide by state social distancing rules.

“I spent most of the summer at Neptune and Ocean (Avenues) directing traffic away from the park,” Sugrue said.

The summer of 2021 was one of the rainiest seasons in recent memory, he said. There were 17 days of rain in July alone, he said, and the weather led to cancellations of planned Fourth of July activities and resulted in poor attendance during the typically busy Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.

Rain costs the park revenues; Sugrue said a good summer day can bring in $100,000, while a rainy day can bring in as little as $200.

“I expect demand to be huge this summer. When we have sunshine, we have to turn people away. It makes sense to raise rates,” he said.

While the park is owned by the city, it is managed by the company Centerplate, formerly Boston Concessions Group Inc. Terms of a contract between the city and company show Centerplate is compensated 10% of gross revenue from the park and a portion of the net profits. Centerplate maintains 2% of its gross revenue in a maintenance reserve. Any balance left over is remitted to the city, while the city is responsible for covering any operating deficits.

The proposed city budget allots $100,000 for Ocean Beach Park, the same amount budgeted in the fiscal year 2021 and 2022 budgets. It is an increase of $40,000 from both the fiscal year 2019 and 2020 budgets.

It was the City Council in 2020 that proposed and approved rate reduction for residents, a move designed to introduce more city youth to the beach. Season parking pass rates for residents dropped that year from $85 to $40 and from $30 to $15 for seniors. These rates remained nearly unchanged, though a state sales tax now is included in rates.

Councilor James Burke said that all youth under the age of 18 are able to walk into the park for free with a student identification or library card.

He said he is hopeful the city’s new Smart Ride shuttle service might help get even more people to the beach this year.

g.smith@theday.com