The OCBA’s ferry toll campaign has begun.
It has compiled a list of talking points for islanders and property owners to use to craft emails to the N.C. Legislators on the accompanying list.
The N.C. Legislature will reconvene at noon on Monday, April 28, and will then work on its own version of the budget.
The NC House will take up the Senate’s $32.6 billion proposed budget, which proposes tolls on the Hatteras Inlet and Currituck Sound routes and to double the rates on the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter and Ocracoke-Cedar Island routes and the Ocracoke Express passenger vessel.
Specifically, the 439-page Senate Bill 257 proposes
- Hatteras-Ocracoke: $20 for vehicles under 20 feet long, $40 for vehicles over 20 feet, and $1 for passengers not traveling in a vehicle.
- Ocracoke-Swan Quarter and Cedar Island: $30 vehicles under 20 feet, $60 vehicles over 20 feet, $2 for passengers.
- Ocracoke Express: $15 per person.
The current one-way rates of the Swan Quarter and Cedar Island routes are $15 for vehicles under 20 feet, $30 for vehicles 20 to 40 feet long, $45 for vehicles longer than 40 feet, and $1 per passenger.
Rates on the Ocracoke Express, which runs between mid-May and early September, are $7.50 per passenger per ride and $1 per bicycle.
Tolls would also be added to other now-free routes.
The budget proposal also creates an annual pass for commuters and priority boarding of commercial vehicles that would allow unlimited rides at a cost of $150 per vehicle, per year, but no further details are enumerated for this pass.
The Hyde County Commissioners have sent a resolution and now is the time for individuals to voice their views. See the graphics in a second blog post for talking points and Legislators' addresses.