The Daily Advance Sunday, February 16, 2014
Steinburg: Block Ferry Tolls
By Cindy Beamon. State Rep. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, said he will
call for an efficiency study of the N.C. Ferry Division if his
effort to block tolls on the Currituck-Knotts Island Ferry fails
in the General Assembly.
Steinburg said this week he will first seek to
introduce legislation to exempt the ferry from tolls when the
General Assembly convenes in May.
If the straightforward approach doesn’t work,
Steinburg said he will call for a study to make sure the ferry
division is not wasting money. He said lawmakers have a duty to
make sure the ferry division is operating efficiently before
enacting new tolls. Any cost savings that result could be used to
help pay for ferry replacements, he said.
“They need to do that first before they even
consider tolls,” said Steinburg.
In the meantime, a regional group newly charged
with deciding if the ferry should be tolled or not tolled seems
willing to delay its decision until Steinburg and Sen. Bill Cook,
R-Beaufort, focus on efforts at the state level, a Currituck
commissioner said.
Steinburg, who expressed doubt earlier about
the General Assembly’s willingness to pass an exemption, said he
will make an attempt anyway. Steinburg said a packed pubic hearing
earlier this month in Knotts Island and the “white knuckle” drive
on back roads to get there had convinced him to give it a try. He
is also considering some other options should an outright
exemption meet resistance in the state Legislature.
Steinburg said he’ll ask for an efficiency
study of the North Carolina Ferry Division, which is not a new
idea from the lawmaker.
Last September, Steinburg called for a closer
examination of operations at the North Carolina Ferry Division he
claims is wracked by mismanagement, waste and nepotism. He said
the problems are rooted in decades of “good old boy” politics
dating back to when Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, was powerful
leader of the state Senate.
He also said empty ferry runs, along with per
diem gas allowances and “luxurious” waterfront housing for
workers, should be scrutinized more closely. A state audit is
already under way after a fired ferry division director made
similar allegations in a 2011 lawsuit. Steinburg said an
efficiency study differs from an audit because it is more focused
on cost savings.
“Our first obligation to taxpayers is to make
sure every single avenue of state government is running as
efficiently as possible,” he said.
Steinburg said he’s also checking on a legal
question about tolling. He wants to see if it’s legal for North
Carolina residents to be exempted from paying ferry tolls. He said
exempting residents, while requiring tourists to pay tolls, may
keep tolls from becoming a hardship to communities that rely on
ferries — like the one at Knotts Island — to get to school and
work.
Cook said he doesn’t have any specific plan in
mind but will be meeting with leaders in the House and Senate to
consider the best way to block ferry tolls.
Cook and Steinburg say they have a powerful
ally in State Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, who pledged at the
Knotts Island hearing that as chairman of the Joint Legislative
Transportation Committee, he would look for other ways other than
tolls to fund the ferry. “As long as we don’t end up with a toll
on that ferry, that’s the key,” said Cook.
Cook said he is not sure if calling for an
efficiency study will help in blocking tolls. “I am inclined to be
more direct with it and try to get folks to change their minds,”
said Cook. Getting the Senate to go along with an exemption will
not be easy, he said, because some lawmakers are “determined to
toll the ferries.”
Right now, the decision to toll or not rests
with the Albemarle Regional Planning Organization, made up of
county commissioners in the 10-county region. Lawmakers shifted
that decision to the regional board in 2013 when adopting a new
highway funding plan that aims at making ferries self-sustaining.
At first, the change was heralded as a victory for those wanting
to keep tolls off the ferries because lawmakers, including those
pushing for ferry tolls, would not make the decision.
Cook said he still thinks the ARPO should make
the decision. However. local officials say giving the decision to
the ARPO has a big drawback. If the ARPO does not follow the state
Department of Transportation’s plan for ferry replacements that
includes tolling, then the ARPO will have to dip into highway
project money to make up the difference. ARPO chairman Lloyd
Griffin said the decision will put some county leaders in a bad
position. If member counties without ferries vote to keep ferries
toll-free, then they will have less money for highway projects in
their own communities, local officials say.
Currituck Commissionaires’ chairman Paul O’Neal
said the decision unfairly pits one county against another when it
comes to setting priorities for highway projects. Because of that
conflict, Currituck Commissioners formally asked Steinburg and
Cook to introduce legislation that would thrust the decision back
to state lawmakers. Currituck Commissioner Butch Petrey said most
ARPO members he’s talked with appear willing to delay a vote while
Steinburg and Cook work out a solution.
The ARPO could discuss tolls at its March 5
meeting after the state Department of Transportation’s public
meetings on its statewide ferry toll proposal. Griffin said Friday
the ARPO can support, not support or take no action on the state
Department of Transportation’s proposal to fund ferry replacements
by charging tolls. Regardless of that decision, the board will
have to move forward in selecting 2015 funding priorities for
highway projects by July. Without tolls, funds for replacing
ferries would have to come from the region’s $32 million for
highway projects under the state’s new Strategic Mobility Formula.
Currituck Commissioners said the ferry tolls
are unfair to Knotts Island residents because the ferry is no
different from toll-free bridges that offer waterway crossings to
motorists. County officials and Knotts Island residents say
tolling the ferry is akin to double taxation. O’Neal said North
Carolina already levies a higher gas tax than nearby states to
keep from tolling highways as do New Jersey and Virginia. The
ferries are an extension of the highway system and should not be
subject to tolling, he said. “We already have a higher gas tax in
the state because we don’t have tolls. Now we are going to have a
high tax and tolls. It doesn’t add up,” said O’Neal.
Commissioner Vance Aydlett and O’Neal said they
are not particular about how lawmakers go about making the Knotts
Island ferry toll-free. If an efficiency study will help save
money that can be re-directed toward ferry replacements, they said
they would not object. “My interest is in no tolls. However
(Steinburg) figures out to do that I am not going to second guess
it,” said Aydlett.