By Connie Leinbach
The most devastating insult yet to Ocracoke is the N.C. Legislature ending residential priority loading on the Hatteras ferry, said Hyde County Manager Kris Noble at the Wednesday Board of Commissioners meeting.
Noble’s remark preceded the commissioners’ unanimous approval (Sept. 2) of a resolution asking the legislature to amend the recently passed state budget (SB257) to include sanctioning priority loading for Ocracoke residents.
Section 136-82 (f3) of that bill includes priority loading for vehicles providing commercial goods and services for a yearly fee of $150, but this section does not include residential vehicles.
Because of this, the N.C. Ferry Division announced recently that residential priority passes will cease as of Jan. 1 when, as noted in the bill, ferry tolls are supposed to be collected on all ferry routes in the state.
“As currently enacted, the budget bill does not provide the Department of Transportation with the authority to issue resident priority passes,” Ferry Division spokesman Tim Hass said in an Aug. 27 email. “As a result, the Ocracoke resident priority pass program cannot continue beyond Jan. 1, 2027.”
Although it was not codified by law, priority loading for Ocracoke residents has been a Ferry Division policy for more than 20 years, Noble said.
“Ferries serve as a lifeline connection for Ocracoke families, being the only way to transport vehicles, home repair supplies and everyday necessities onto the isolated island,” the Hyde resolution says.
The resolution notes that, among other things lacking, Ocracoke has no local hospital or other medical specialists; that traveling by ferry is a daily function for residents; that the ferry is part of N.C. Highway 12, which goes from Nags Head in Dare County, through Ocracoke and on to Cedar Island.
If a fee is required, the Board of Transportation should set that, as it is supposed to for new and continuing tolls, the resolution says.
The commissioners also approved joining a resolution by the counties of Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Craven, Currituck, Dare New Hanover and Pamlico requesting that Gov. Josh Stein and the NC Department of Transportation waive all tolls and fees for locally registered Vehicles.
Among its provisions, the resolution says “a fair and equitable solution must distinguish between daily local commuters who utilize the ferry system as an essential highway and seasonal tourism traffic that utilizes the system for recreation.”
The nine counties ask that “any necessary state revenue adjustments focus strictly on non-resident, seasonal tourism traffic rather than penalizing local citizens.”
Ferry Division will hold a “listening session” from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, in the Ocracoke School gym. There will be no formal public comment time but attendees should bring their own writing implements to make written comments.
According to officials who attended the Sept. 1 and 2 meetings in Beaufort and Pamlico counties, these sessions are for the Ferry Division to describe how they’re navigating this directive.
“We want peoples’ opinions but the ferry division are not the people to be mad at,” noted Hyde County Commissioner Chair Randal Mathews in an interview. “They’ve been told to do this, and they are not the ones that people should be venting at. They’re not the problem. It’s the legislators and the ones that have gone along with (this).”
The creation of ferry tolls and elimination of residential priority loading is a legislative problem, he said, and the Nov. 3 election could change things in Raleigh come Jan. 1.
“What is going to make a difference is what can we work through with the legislature and get that (priority) exception,” he said, “and focus on the delay and the implementation issues.”
At their Sept. 1 meeting, the Dare County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the resolution calling for waiving ferry tolls.
The Ferry Division has a survey on tolling that’s available until Sept. 14. To take the survey, click here.
To view a Ferry Division presentation about tolling, see the Hyde County Board of Commissioners’ Sept. 2 meeting packet here.
No tolls for all NC residents
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