By Connie Leinbach
As soon as the N.C. Legislature reconvenes after Thanksgiving, Sen. Norman Sanderson will seek to amend the budget bill to retain priority passes for Ocracoke residents.
Several other GA members also have indicated they will support the retention.
In an interview, Sanderson railed against the imposition of tolls on heretofore untolled routes and the brouhaha over the elimination of priority ferry boarding for island residents.
“They just don’t understand that it’s more than just a boat ride for us,” he said about his legislative colleagues. “It’s a way of living, and it’s a way we get from place to place.”
Passed in late June, Session Law 2026-41 requires tolls on four vehicle ferry routes that have historically been free: Hatteras-Ocracoke, Currituck-Knotts Island, Bayview-Aurora, and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach.
Tolls are already collected on the Cedar Island-Ocracoke, Swan Quarter-Ocracoke, and Southport-Fort Fisher vehicle routes, and the seasonal Hatteras-Ocracoke passenger ferry.
The law also creates a $150 annual commuter pass for eligible permanent residents of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties and active-duty military personnel as well as vendors to Ocracoke, who would be allowed priority boarding.
As written in the law, the pass does not provide priority loading for residents.
Justin LeBlanc, executive director of the Ocracoke Access Alliance, said at the Sept. 15 Ocracoke Civic & Business Association meeting that Ocracoke’s resident priority system has operated for roughly 40 years without being specifically authorized or prohibited by state law.
But the NCDOT determined that once the new tolling law takes effect, he said, the agency will need explicit statutory authority from the Legislature to continue the resident priority program.
Tom Pahl, a former Hyde County commissioner, said: “Restore the priority pass. We’re not asking for anything that costs money. We’re just asking you to correct an error.”
LeBlanc said the interpretation came from NCDOT rather than the Ferry Division, and the Alliance has taken the issue as far as the governor’s office and state transportation leadership.
“The only way we get priority pass back is not with the Ferry Division; it’s not with NCDOT; it’s getting a new law enacted by the General Assembly,” he said.
But more than the priority pass issue, Sanderson would like to see the ferry toll law retracted.
“I would like that we find other ways to make these finances to replace these ferries,” he said. “And I know they say all of the money on the tolls will go in to replace the ferries, and that might be a good talking point. But I’m not so sure that that happens all the time.”
He especially thinks any tolling talk should wait until after the audit being conducted on the Ferry Division finances, maintenance practices, route structure, vessel replacement needs and possible revenue sources, with a report due Jan. 15.
Toll collection on these routes may be tantamount to a drop in the ocean, he said.
“It’ll probably cost almost as much to collect the tolls as they’ll bring in,” he said.
Hyde County’s lobbyist Bob Steinburg was adamant as well about the priority pass problem.
“As far as Ocracoke and Hatteras are concerned, this is like an anvil swinging over their heads,” he said. “It’s got to be changed. I am going to work very hard to bring this to the attention of whoever it needs to just exactly what this eliminating priority boarding does,” he said. “It really is going to cause a lot of hardship.”
And that was the sentiment that a dozen Ocracoke residents and visitors noted at the Sept. 15 OCBA meeting, which specifically covered priority passes.
At Tuesday’s meeting, one speaker pointed out that restoring priority would not require another appropriation for Ocracoke.
“How often do your constituents ask you for something that doesn’t cost any money?” Tom Pahl, a former Hyde County commissioner, said. “Restore the priority pass. We’re not asking for anything that costs money. We’re just asking you to correct an error.”
For many residents, medical care is the most immediate concern.
Hyde County Schools Superintendent Melanie Shaver said the ferry connects not only the island to the mainland but the two geographically separated parts of the Hyde County school system.
“The ferry is not simply a transportation option,” she said. “It is the road that connects our communities, our schools, and our services.”
For visitors, she said, missing a ferry might simply mean waiting for another boat. For an Ocracoke resident, the consequences can be considerably greater.
“That ferry means missing a dental or medical appointment, attending a school event to see their child, accessing services, or simply just getting home,” Shaver said.
Hyde County and the Ocracoke Access Alliance (OAA) have drafted proposed language for that correction and are seeking its inclusion during a legislative session beginning Nov. 30, which LeBlanc said is the earliest opportunity for lawmakers to address the issue.
Toll rates are scheduled to go before the N.C. Board of Transportation Oct. 7 and 8, with adoption expected Nov. 8 — leaving less than two months to implement a brand-new system before the Jan. 1 deadline.
Hyde County Manager Kris Noble said that after this meeting there will be a 10-day comment period for the public.
“We want a big push from Ocracoke during that comment period to make sure the board of transportation hears from Ocracoke on the ferry’s recommendations,” she said.
Jed Dixon, Ferry Division director, said at the Sept. 9 presentation on Ocracoke that his agency is working on toll implementation so that something, even if it’s not the full system, is in place by Jan. 1.
