After Labor Day, beachgoers can soak up the sun anywhere for free in New Jersey.

But those who want to avoid the fees for the holiday weekend can chose among six beaches that always offer free sunbathing: Atlantic City, Strathmere, the three Wildwoods, and Corson's Inlet State Park.

What makes one burg eschew fees while a neighboring community slaps on a $4 or $5 charge for the day? Is there a common thread?

Not really. A large commercial base helps explain the freebies in Atlantic City and the Wildwoods, but other municipalities have significant taxable businesses and still insist on a beach tag. And Strathmere has only a handful of businesses and not many houses, yet allows free access.

"These towns made a public policy decision that beaches would be free and open," said Tim Dillingham, assistant director of the Sandy Hook-based American Littoral Society. "It's laudable that free access to the beach is sound economics, that the costs incurred are more than covered by visitors."

Domenic Cappella, assistant business administrator for Atlantic City, agrees.

"Our business is tourism," he said. "It's the name of the game. We want to give visitors every accommodation."

So the gaming resort picks up the $1.6 million tab for the beach, a figure that represents 1 percent of the annual budget. Like the Wildwoods, property taxes from businesses bring in enough revenues for the municipal coffers to more than offset the need for beach tags.

"Commercial properties pay a higher percentage of taxes per capita," Wildwood Mayor Duane Sloan said.

Thus the owner of a motel assessed at $800,000 pays 10 times the taxes of an owner of a single-family house assessed at $80,000, he said. "Part of that is put toward the beaches."

Yet while Wildwood Crest spends about $1 million on its beaches - including salaries for 86 lifeguards on its 42- block stretch - the much smaller Cape May - 70 lifeguards - brought in $1.3 million in beach-tag revenue last year. Ocean City budgeted for $2.5 million this year, which covers 136 lifeguards and 8.5 miles.

Sloan said what Ocean City and other shore communities do amounts to double-dipping to a certain extent. Property owners who benefit from tourism are already paying municipalities for the care and safety of beaches through taxes.

Beach expenses in Strathmere came to just slightly more than $250,000 this year, which included a beach- replenishment project. With fewer than 500 houses (Ocean City has more than 20,000 housing units), tax revenues from the slice of Upper Township amount to very little.

Still, Strathmere is the oddity among the municipal free beaches. Like Diamond Beach in Lower Township, it's separated from a larger community by the back bays. But unlike Lower Township, which refuses to acquire its beachfront from private hands, Upper Township remains committed to maintaining a tagless stretch of coast.

"We believe in free beaches," said Mayor Richard Palombo. " We have a strong commitment to the island community; we don' t alienate them. That's one reason why we support free beaches."

Strathmere, along with nearby Corson's Inlet State Park, adjacent to the southern end of Ocean City, is a hidden treasure. A lack of amenities such as pizza parlors and sub shops keeps the beach-going population to a minimum.

Marie and Lewis Dawalt of Hammonton stumbled on the Whale Beach section of Strathmere five years ago. Just a couple of blocks from Sea Isle City and its beach tags, the area is left unprotected by the small lifeguard crew who congregate in the central portions of Strathmere.

"It's quiet, and not crowded like those beaches with tags," Marie Dawalt said.

Lindsay Yocom of Franklinville prefers the solitude of Strathmere to the Wildwoods, even though both are free. " This is also a shorter beach," she said.

Wildwood Crest is a much larger beach. As a result of the high fees charged in adjacent Diamond Beach, many residents of the section of Lower Township walk the two or three blocks to Wildwood Crest.

"Some homeowners say they use Wildwood Crest beaches because they're free," said John Pantalone, mayor of the borough, where residents defeated a referendum to end free beaches in the late 1980s.

Then again, visitors like Karen and Chris Rowe of Middletown, Del., discount the import of beach fees in their decision on which community to sunbathe in.

``I grew up going to Ocean City, Cape May and Stone Harbor, so I'm used to fees,'' said Karen Rowe, as she lounged at the Washington Avenue beach in Wildwood Crest. Delaware beaches are free. But Wildwood Crest is both wider and less congested.

While the minimal fees levied by most South Jersey communities won't keep visitors away - check out any beach on a hot summer day - Sloan says larger issues play a role in keeping his beach free.

``Having grown up here, I don't believe ethically or morally that a government should charge for use of the beach,'' he said. ``I find it repulsive that residents or visitors are forced to pay to use an area in the public domain. It might sound altruistic, but I believe it.''

For Atlantic City beach patrol chief Robert Levy, free beaches are a matter of civic duty.

"We're proud we're one of the only free beaches left," he said.