(The Center Square) – Ocracoke Island’s contribution to tourism in North Carolina justifies the cost of state ferry service to the storied village, a political leader told The Center Square.
Tourists from around the world visit Ocracoke, said Hyde County Commissioner Randal Mathews, an island resident who represents Ocracoke on the county board.
Mathews formerly owned an inn on Ocracoke.
“We had people from South Africa, Germany,” he said. “The German people who work in the BMW plant in South Carolina, they came up to Ocracoke.”
The cost of the ferry service recently came under criticism from a North Carolina legislative committee with members questioning the fairness of taxpayers spending up to $230 per vehicle for the Cedar Island to Ocracoke ferry service and also the cost of maintaining and replacing aging ferry boats.
The island has about 700 permanent residents but has no bridge to the mainland.
A 2020 study estimated that the state’s ferry system helps to generate $732 million annually in gross business sales.
“Ultimately, the N.C. Ferry System is a source of job creation, local revenue and tax creation that benefits the coast and the state,” the study said. “It provides economic and quality-of-life benefits for its ferry passengers accessing communities along the state’s extensive coastline.”
Mathews described the ferry as the island’s highway.
“It’s really sad to hear staffers or legislators talk about it in a way that make it seem like some kind of special convenience,” said Mathews, who chairs the Hyde County commission. “It’s less than 1% of the DOT budget and it generates millions of dollars in revenue, jobs and tourism.”
Mathews compared the cost of the ferry to the cost of plowing snow off roads in the western part of North Carolina.
Both are “keeping the roads open,” he said.
North Carolina should protect its coastal areas just as it does other areas of the state, Mathews added.
The village of Ocracoke is actually a mile from the ocean, he pointed out.
“We don’t have any oceanfront development,” Mathews said. “It’s all national park. The national park is connected by the ferry service. And people don’t seem to understand that or appreciate that. There’s a lot of ignorance out there.”
Privatization wouldn’t work, the commissioner said.
“I think it would cost too much,” he said.
In a joint House-Senate transportation meeting, lawmakers discussed the $2.5 million generation of revenue through fees; cost of new boats at $20 million to $40 million; and the aging fleet of 23 ferries and 11 support vessels.
“I just see a big hole of how we are going to move forward,” said Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick. “We are just in a heck of a predicament and we are going to have to address it.”
Taking away the ferry would kill the community, said Mathews.
“That will take away from revenue in the second poorest county in the state,” he said.
