Text and photos by Peter Vankevich
Though he doesn’t represent Ocracoke, state Senator Jonah Garson (D) thinks Ocracoke residents should not have to pay for ferry tolls.
Garson visited Ocracoke to see firsthand the challenges facing the island and to discuss the new ferry tolls, legislative priorities in Raleigh and what he described as excessive state control over local communities.
An activist lawyer, he was appointed in April to represent Senate District 23, replacing Graig Meyer (D), who stepped down to be the executive director of the NC Justice Center. Garson will run for election in November.
Although Ocracoke is well outside his district, which includes Caswell, Orange and Person counties, he emphasized during WOVV’s What’s Happening on Ocracoke that the state ferry system was a central concern.
Tolls that permanent Ocracoke residents will have to pay for using the Hatteras Inlet ferries was one of several reasons why he decided not to vote for the budget.
“We have no business charging permanent residents of Ocracoke fees for use of the Hatteras Inlet ferry,” he said. “There is no reason why there needs to be this scarcity mindset. We can have a fully financed ferry system, fund fleet maintenance, and do all of these things properly.”
Garson had high praise for state Sen. Bobby Hanig, a Republican from Currituck County, for opposing both ferry tolls and legislation restricting shrimp trawling.
“Our desks in the Assembly (were) close by, and we had lots of conversations,” Garson said. Hanig, who lost his primary bid for a federal Congressional seat, stepped down from his state senator seat on Aug. 21.
Garson questioned the Jan.1 implementation date for the ferry tolls, noting that a state auditor’s report examining Ferry Division operations was not expected to be completed until mid-January.
With lawmakers scheduled to return to Raleigh for legislative sessions, Garson encouraged coastal residents to make their concerns to delay this implementation known to legislators.
Rather than relying on mass-produced form letters, he recommended that residents send short, personal messages directly to legislative leaders.
He specifically mentioned contacting state Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from New Hanover County, whom Garson said could assume a significant leadership role if Republicans retain control of the Senate.
Garson also criticized what he described as excessive concentration of power within the General Assembly.
Reflecting on his first months in office, he pointed to delays in adopting the state budget due to disagreements among Republican lawmakers.
Garson voted against the final budget package, citing in addition to the ferry tolls, concerns about employee compensation and other spending priorities.
He said state workers and first responders did not receive sufficient pay increases to keep pace with inflation and criticized what he described as stagnant wage scales for experienced teachers.
Garson also raised broader questions about North Carolina’s tax and economic policies.
He criticized continued reductions in corporate income taxes, funding decisions involving municipal infrastructure and favorable tax provisions for digital betting companies.
He also expressed concern about the expansion of private-school voucher subsidies and about state treatment of sales-tax revenue associated with large, energy-intensive data centers. Garson argued that some of that revenue should remain available to the counties where such facilities are located.
A theme of the senator’s visit was the importance of community input and local voices in government. He serves on the Senate State and Local Government Committee.
North Carolina follows Dillon’s Rule, under which local governments have only those powers granted to them by the state. Garson said the arrangement has resulted in too much authority being concentrated in Raleigh.
“I stepped into this General Assembly believing that we need to place much more power and authority in local communities who know their needs the best and have the best ideas for solutions,” he said. “We do not have that right now. We have a General Assembly that centralizes power among a few corner-office figures.”
Garson also emphasized the importance of judicial elections, urging voters to research the candidates who will appear on the ballot.
He noted that North Carolina’s appellate courts make decisions affecting utility rates, environmental regulations and election laws.
Garson also met with Hyde County Commissioner Randal Mathews, County Manager Kris Noble and Justin LeBlanc, executive director of the newly formed Ocracoke Access Alliance.
“It’s great that senators from other parts of the state come and visit,” Mathews said. “We need them to see what Ocracoke is like, what we face.”
Although Garson represents a district far from Ocracoke, his visit underscored how decisions made in Raleigh can reach even the state’s most geographically isolated communities.
I’ve been advocating for ferry tolls for non-residents of Ocracoke Island for at least the past decade. My wife and I began visiting Ocracoke twenty-plus years ago, and have found it to provide us a wonderful twice-yearly rejuvenation. Our admiration and respect for the residents, especially the business owners and their employees, is profound.
It is not the residents who have put the strain on the ferry system… it is the tens-of-thousands of visitors, and I very much doubt there is a single one of them who cannot afford, and will not gladly pay, reasonable ferry fees.
In addition to the ferries being fee-free for Island residents (AND business employees commuting from Hatteras and points beyond.) they should all retain their priority boarding status.
Once those two issues are resolved, I would love to see the NC legislature stand up to the insurance industry which refuses to compensate homeowners facing the inevitable loss of their homes/investments to the ever-encroaching waves, instead determining structures to be lost only after they plunge into the sea. This practice borders on legislative malpractice, bordering on cowardice (or is it avarice?), shocking levels of corporate greed, and gross environmental irresponsibility.
We CAN’T continue to just sit on our thumbs and watch TONS of hazardous debris fall into the water. Once structures are condemned, insurers should be required to honor their policies and pay for the loss.
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