Ferry tolls unfair to coastal residents who have right to come and go

To the State of North Carolina, tolling the Ocracoke/Hatteras ferry is a cherry for the picking. And that’s why officials won’t leave this alone.

When the legislature created the Strategic Mobility Formula, the operation of the ferries was recognized as a regional not a local budget item. While the ferries may operate within a single county, or between two counties, they nonetheless have a regional effect on the economy. The Strategic Mobility Formula got that part right. Unfortunately, though, it places the responsibility for ferry boat replacement at the local level.

Why would ferry operations be a regional funding matter and a huge capital expenditure – the replacement of a ferry boat – be designated as a local matter?

What’s at stake is $5 million that would need to be set aside every year to maintain a rolling fund for ferry replacement, and that’s where the toll comes in. But the effect of a $15 ferry toll on Ocracoke’s residents and economy would be huge. Local retailers say that well over half of their business is from “day trippers” who drive south from Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk and beyond to make a day of riding the ferry and spending the afternoon in Ocracoke.

If even a quarter of those folks were scared off by a toll, the effect on island businesses would be immediate and painful, including loss of jobs. In addition, the impact of a toll on residents who would have to pay, coming and going, to do everyday chores that take them off the island would likewise be painful and, to some, devastating.

I’ve heard proposals that would exempt residents, but at the last meeting of the Ferry Division in Ocracoke, Rep. Paul Tine said, because the Department of Transportation is funded partially by federal money, it would not be allowable to exempt residents from the toll.

The negative impact is not just an Ocracoke issue. Every one of those cars that travel south to the ferry passes through our neighboring villages along the Outer Banks. They stop and buy lunch, gas (paying the N.C. gas tax that funds the ferry operations) and souvenirs and more on their way to the ferry. Ocracoke’s day trippers are an engine to local economies all up and down the Outer Banks.

The DOT budget is about $4.3 billion. The $5 million in question is 0.10 percent that budget. Take a hundred dollar bill and put it on a table. Put a penny beside it. That’s what we’re talking about – that penny.

We have three ferry routes to Ocracoke; two of those routes are already tolled. We’re not complaining about that. We’re just asking for fair recognition that our ferry connection to Hatteras is no different from the thousands of bridges that connect communities and support their economies all over the state, toll-free.

When the chairman of the House Standing Committee on Transportation goes home at night to his family on Oak Island, he has a choice of taking either of two bridges. Neither one is tolled. Why shouldn’t Ocracokers receive the same benefit for their tax dollars? And when the chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation drives to work in Raleigh, maybe crossing as many as a dozen of the nearly 13,000 bridges he oversees in North Carolina, toll-free, why shouldn’t Ocracokers expect the same benefit from their tax dollars?

The operation, maintenance and replacement of ferries are part of the N.C. Department of Transportation budget, as is the operation, maintenance and replacement of roads and bridges throughout the state.

Ocracoke is not asking for special treatment. On the contrary, we’re asking not to be singled out. We’re simply asking that we be allowed to continue to come and go from our homes just like everyone else in North Carolina, without paying a toll.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Ferry tolls unfair to coastal residents who have right to come and go."