BY MILES LAYTON

SWAN QUARTER — The General Assembly is considering a toll on ferry service to Ocracoke, but we should really call it an unfair tax levied against the people of North Carolina.

Rather than write this story like some drive-by mainstream media reporter that doesn’t say or explain anything, I figured I’d travel to Hyde County, ride the ferry to Ocracoke and Hatteras and find out what’s really going on.  

The toll, aka a tax, is probably illegal based on state statute, but that’s never stopped the government from meddling and overreach. 

Raleigh lawmakers want to impose a toll (tax) hike on the ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke – which is currently free. Fee would be $20 per vehicle less than 20 feet and $40 per vehicle for vehicles more than 40 feet. The law calls for doubling the toll from $15 to $30 for trips between Swan Quarter and Ocracoke.  

State Senate’s version of the tax hike passed 25-24 last week, so the measure goes to the State House for consideration.  

Hyde County Travels

When I need a chance to think, I travel to Hyde County for a breath of fresh air. For folks from elsewhere who may have never visited this neck of the woods, this area is beautiful with lots of farms, wide open spaces, and friendly people.  There’s not a stoplight, major grocery store nor fast food restaurant in the whole county.

With around 4,500 souls living in God’s Country, Hyde County is the second smallest by population in North Carolina, also among the poorest. Population center is the island of Ocracoke, where less than a 1,000 people live year round, give or take, and the county seat is on the mainland in Swan Quarter, a ferry ride that is 25 miles away (one way) from the Island.  

Since I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Hyde County, certainly Ocracoke — here’s what I can tell you based on my own experiences and after talking with County Manager Kris Cahoon Noble and County Commission Chairman Randal Mathews. 

The Hyde County Commission is poised to approved a resolution May 5 condemning toll hikes to ferry service.  

The Albemarle Commission, which represents 10 counties across Northeastern NC, including Hyde County, will also discuss the matter soon.  

Who are Noble and Mathews?

Daughter of a mainland Hyde County commercial fishing Cahoon clan, Noble was lucky enough to grow up in Hyde County. She graduated from Mattamuskeet High School in 1993 – go Lakers! – before earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Carolina University. Though our readers can’t hear Noble’s voice when reading this story, she speaks in Hyde County’s southern drawl, which is music to my ears. Her leadership and grant writing skills have transformed her hometown and the county.   

Mathews grew up in Pasquotank County and later fell in love with and married Marlene, an Ocracoke native, more than 30 years ago. Mathews tells the story that when he was working for the telephone company, he got to know practically everyone on the island, so he knows who’s who and what’s what. He knows technology – helped wire the island to such a degree that no matter what kind of stormy weather, folks can call the mainland. Rather than a business suit with a tie, Mathews wears the familiar sports shirt, khaki slacks and Sperry topsiders, no socks — an outfit common to coastal Carolina.    

Now, in his second term as a Hyde County Commissioner, Mathews is the only second such Ocracoke Township commissioner to be named chair since the early 1990s.   

The Law is the Law

The General Assembly wants to tax travelers and residents of Ocracoke unfairly.    

To put it simply, that ferry route is the “bridge” between Ocracoke and Hatteras. To tax folks for equal access to the mainland seems a bridge too far. 

NC General Statute says the state “shall maintain an existing, alternate, comparable non toll route corresponding to each Turnpike Project pursuant to Article. (2002-133, s.1.), ensuring that all people can access a non-tolled route to their travel destination.”  

“So it says right there in the General Statutes that they will never put in a toll route that doesn’t have a free alternative,” Noble said. “It’s right there in the statute. And we consider that ferry our road. And so they say there will never be an option where you have to pay. I would go further and say that the ferry serves our residents, our vendors, and our visitors, and it’s basically our bridge in the absence of a bridge, and it’s our highway access in the absence of a highway, and it should not be tolled.”

On that note, this country editor doesn’t have to pay a toll to travel the Blue Ridge Parkway through the mountains, nor do I have to pay a toll to travel from Manteo to Murphy, Elizabeth City to Edenton.  

But what about those Express toll roads in places like Charlotte or Raleigh? Well, that’s different because travelers can pay a toll for the convenience of not having to deal with clogged highways during peak drive times. This may be insulting to certain rich people, but I’ve often thought those toll roads were built for you, not the rest of us who can’t afford to use those extra highways that we help pay to build for you fine folks. 

And remember, cities with these toll roads offer another way home – that’s not so with motorists traveling to Ocracoke.   

“There you have to pay a 20-something dollar toll or something in the Charlotte area,” Noble said. “That’s true, but that’s a convenience for you. You can always drive around. You can. There’s always an alternative. You’re paying for your convenience to save time, but we don’t have an alternative route. And the citizens of Ocracoke deserve a way to access their homes without paying a fee.” 

Mathews said whether grocery shopping in Hatteras or handling court matters in Swan Quarter, the people of Ocracoke rely on the ferry service – same with school buses carrying the high school’s Dolphins’ teams to sports events. Sometimes, the ferry will wait for that late bus so those kids can get home – thanks goes to the captain and crew.  

As to the law, Mathews said, “I don’t know how the law would read, but there’s also a law on the books that someone in the General Assembly didn’t look at that says there has got to be a free way for people to get to their homes. There’s no alternate route to Ocracoke.”

Mathews applied a metaphor  — “And that’s the thing with people saying, ‘If you want to ride that ferry, you got to pay.’ And my response to that is, ‘Well, we don’t need a snowplow in Ocracoke. We don’t have to have that in this part of the world, but we’re paying for that where you live aren’t we?’” 

“Well, there are a lot of points like that you can make. The roads in Charlotte — I’ve been there once in the last 20 years, you know. But that’s paid for everybody — all the taxpayers pay for stuff that they don’t want to pay for – so it should be the same with our ferry system.”

What folks are saying

Perhaps the lawmakers who crafted this law think it will be aimed at out-of-state tourists who flock to the Outer Banks. 

“I don’t think the law allows the state to toll one group of people and not others — We can’t just toll the tourists by law. It’s discriminatory,” Mathews said. 

While riding the ferry this past week to and from Ocracoke, I talked to travelers as we marveled at the waves and waters of the Pamlico Sound. License plates showed vehicles from Wyoming, Delaware, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina. No, I didn’t get names because no one, including myself, wants to talk to a reporter while taking in the view, but everyone said that if there was a toll, they would think twice about whether to travel to Ocracoke. Some said there are many fine beaches up and down the Outer Banks, so why pay extra to see a beach on an island, especially for a day trip.  

A point echoed by Noble — “This is gonna kill Ocracoke, or it’s gonna substantially affect Ocracoke and Hatteras Island because a lot of our day-tripper traffic that come from Nags Head and Kitty Hawk and greater Dare County, they come through Hatteras Island to go to Ocracoke and they stop and spend money. They stop and get ice cream. They stop and get gas. You know? They stop and shop on their way. And if they don’t have that destination of Ocracoke, they may not go down Hatteras. They may just stay in Kitty Hawk.” 

Saying the quiet part out loud. Tolls never go down; always increasing. Travel to the Eastern Shore via the Chesapeake Bay’s big bridge/tunnel ain’t cheap. I think that toll has hindered economic growth in that part of Virginia, but that’s a column for another day.  

Anyone who’s traveled the West Virginia Turnpike has to pay at least $4.50 times three tolls that are forever rising. But at least the residents of the Mountaineers’ State have alternate ways of getting home, so they have the choice of whether to pay the toll or not – that’s not so with the residents of Ocracoke. 

Also, consider that any toll affects many, many Tarheel State residents who travel to Ocracoke too. If this law passes, that’s not fair to NC taxpayers who will get hit twice – taxes and tolls.  

While touring the island to find a spot to park, my wife saw out of the corner of her eye Edenton Mayor Hackney High and his wife, Martha, biking around the island. They were on the island to run in the annual Black Beard 5K, a race that’s part of a “runfest” that includes a 10K and half marathon.

“On the way down, we drove to Hatteras and then took the Hatteras to Ocracoke ferry,” Mayor High said. “On the way back, we did the Ocracoke to Swan Quarter ferry— a lot of times when we do that, we’ll go down one way and come back. That’s how that’s how we do it.”

High continued, “I’m never in favor of raising rates. I understand now that I’m sitting in this chair (as mayor); sometimes you feel like you have to. I would like to see that the Hatteras to Ocracoke remains free. It’s a hard enough place to get to get to, and it’s a beautiful place. And I would love, you know, it to remain open to as many people as possible.”

And then there’s this – Noble said the law doesn’t include any studies that determine a price point that motorists may be willing to pay, thus a price too high “might be a thing.” “If tolling of ferry routes is to be considered, careful studies should take place prior to that legislation,” she said. “A comprehensive tolling study, at the very least, should be conducted as due diligence prior to making these changes that affect everyone’s lives and affect our economic situation so dramatically. A toll study should examine elasticity, which is a term that I’ve become familiar with since this came out, which basically takes elasticity and market characteristics to determine what is an acceptable fee structure to take into consideration what’s the price point people are willing to pay before it has a negative impact on ridership.” 

Challenges of Implementing the Law

When reflecting on the Hatteras side of the ferry system, Noble noted that there is no infrastructure in place to accept tolls – no one to accept payment, hold the money – jobs that would be needed if any toll system were put in place at Hatteras. 

“We talk about it here, the tolling study would also help to look at what is the cost of implementation,” she said. “Because right now, there’s no infrastructure built out for personnel. I mean, it would be very expensive. They’ve not put any money or any thought into how they’re gonna implement these new tolls. How are you gonna collect the money? Who’s going to build the booths? Where’s the money to build the booths? Where’s the money to purchase the technology? You know, none of that. The staffing of the toll booths – you’ve been a Hatteras on a hot summer day. You know, you’ve seen it — there’s what, 10 lanes of traffic. How are they gonna handle that and still collect a fit? It’s already quite a show down there in the summer.” 

And what about waiving the tolls – Noble says there’s nothing in the proposed law about that. 

“The proposed legislation also doesn’t give any statutory authority to waive tolls,” she said. “So we’ve got certain situations where you can waive tolls, you know, and this legislation doesn’t have that in the statute. So until it’s in the statute, there’s no authority to waive tolls for law enforcement, EMS, lots of other folks – school buses too.”

Noble continued, “How about our electric provider, our Internet providers, all of our utility companies, FedEx, Amazon? All these different companies are currently still serving us because they’re coming through Hatteras for free. They should have a statutory waiver on those fees so they can continue. The county should. The state should — these private organizations that provide basic services to us should have that toll waived.” 

General Assembly

According to the Island Free Press, the proposal is part of the $32.6 billion spending plan given initial approval by the Senate this past week.  

Noble praised State Senator Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, who opposed including the ferry tolls in the proposed budget and even introduced an amendment to remove them, but it failed 24-23 on Thursday.  

“In regard to our politicians, Senator Bobby Hanig fought harder for us on this,” she said. “I’ve heard people say he fought harder for us on this on the Senate floor than they’ve ever seen a politician fight on the Senate floor. He provided amendments and tried to get them added to the budget bill to remove this, but he was unsuccessful, with a vote of 23 to 24. They said that Hanig fought harder than they’ve ever seen anybody fight. And our Senator Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, supports us as well and he feels very passionately about this.”  

The budget has been sent to the state House, which is expected to reject it and then propose its own version.

“Our representative, Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort), I know, he’s on our side. He’s waiting for this right now. Thank goodness.” 

Hyde County Commission wants the House to put the funding back into the NC Department of Transportation Ferry Division budget that was removed by the Senate. 

“The Governor’s budget was much richer and provided more money to the ferry division, and the Senate took out some of that money for expansion items,” Noble said. “So we’re asking the House to put that money back because it was critical to vessel maintenance and docks and ramps that we need to provide the service.”

Then there’s this – Senate thinks it is saving money, but reality is far different. Noble said because of ferry system staffing shortages, the money is instead used to fill gaps in overtime wages.      

“They have this idea that they’re going to cut the state budget by eliminating unfilled positions, but that is why I’m asking them to exempt the ferry division from that because these positions are highly skilled,” she said. “Yes, we have openings because you have to have a Coast Guard certification so it’s really hard to recruit for those positions. While we don’t have qualified people in them, we use that money to cover overtime of the other ones that we do have. So if they take away all of our open positions, we won’t have enough money to operate this season or next season.”  

Final Word

Ocracoke is a unique situation, so maybe an exception needs to be made rather than tolling people so that they can travel home to the Island, and by doing so, killing Hyde County’s local businesses; maybe consider leaving things alone.

“We say we’re unique in the fact that there’s no way to access Ocracoke Island except by ferry, and the Hatteras Ocracoke ferry is the only free option,” Noble said. “Every person deserves a free route to travel home. Tolling would make us the only place in North Carolina that cannot be accessed without paying a toll.”