Spotlight on the Ferries

A few weeks ago, Ocracoke resident Tom Pahl announced his candidacy to represent Ocracoke as a Hyde County Commissioner. He is running against the incumbent, commissioner John Fletcher, for the Democratic nomination in the March 15th primary.

Tom has a long connection to the island, beginning from a young age. Tom first visited the island as a child with his parents, and when Tom had his own children they traveled to have family vacations on Ocracoke, too. In 2004, Tom and his wife Carol moved to Ocracoke and have been full-time residents since. Tom is a Licensed General Contractor and owner of Landmark Building and Design. He has served on the Community Center board and the Ocracoke Planning Advisory board, sometimes filling the position of chairman, and is currently a board member for Ocracoke Alive. Tom has also been a volunteer little league umpire.

Now, Tom is excited to take on a new endeavor as a Hyde County Commissioner. He highlighted a few issues important to Ocracoke residents, and what he would do to achieve a good working relationship with other Hyde County Commissioners, as well as representatives from other counties.

“The ferries are a huge issue for us in Ocracoke, and all of the various aspects that surround the operations of the ferry are really critical to us," Tom said. "Obviously we need to stay on top of all of that – not just ferry tolling, but other issues regarding the ferries: the passenger ferry for one; the dredging, issues about who’s dredging what part of the channel. We need to really to stay on top of that and make sure every decision that’s made is made for the benefit of Ocracoke.”

Tom continued by expressing his views on tolling the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry, saying, “I am absolutely opposed to any kind of a toll on that ferry whatsoever under any circumstances. No tolls on that ferry for anyone, and I think we should work hard to keep it that way.”

He explained that the ferry division is part of the North Carolina Department of Transportation and is funded primarily through the state gasoline tax and federal funding, and the residents of and visitors who come to Ocracoke pay the same gasoline taxes and federal taxes at the same rate everyone else does.

"There’s no reason in the world the ferries should be treated any differently than any other aspect of the transportation system. Bridges, roads, etcetera are all a part of that transportation budget, as are the ferries, and there’s no reason the ferries should be singled out,” he said.

Tom continued by saying he doesn’t think it right to toll the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry on a per-use basis, and unless all the bridges in the state are tolled, this ferry should remain toll-free to residents and visitors. He doesn’t see any difference between the Ocracoke-Hatteras ferry and the bridge out to Oak Island, where the Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation lives.

“He rides that bridge out to Oak Island every time he goes home and nobody ever asks for a toll or even thinks about tolling that bridge," Tom said. "That bridge is no different than our ferry. It’s all part of the Department of Transportation budget, and we shouldn’t be singled out.”

Tom also talked about the relationship between Hyde and Dare Counties regarding tolling the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry. He hopes that more citizens will become involved, to rally the State Legislators who “need to have their chains rattled.” He recalled how a couple years ago local people sent emails and made calls and applied pressure at the right moment to influence the outcomes of the ferry tolling issue, and he would like to see those types of actions start again.

To take pressure off themselves, the state legislature created Regional Planning Organization; Hyde County's RPO includes nine other Eastern NC counties. RPOs are allocated a certain amount of money each year, and ours has about $30 million to share among the ten counties.

He explained that the money to replace old ferries is to be drawn from the RPO funding, which would require that the RPO set aside about $5 million or 1/6th of its budget just to replace ferries in Hyde County. The need for new ferries is an unfair burden to the RPO, and uses up all of Hyde County's share (and more) without addressing any other county transportation needs.

This has left the purchase of a new ferry (or ferries) up to the RPO. Since the money provided to each RPO is not enough to cover both operational and capital expenses, the Dare County commissioners voted to support tolling on the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry route; they see it as a way the RPO can raise the money needed to fund new ferries without draining the RPO's state funding. Dare and Hyde Counties are now butting heads trying to come up with a solution.

Tom feels that the purchase of a ferry should be treated as any capital purchase.

“It’s not an operating cost, and the RPO funds should be focused on operating expenses, not capital expenses.”

Tom wants to work with Dare County Commissioners to convince the state legislature to remove the purchase of ferries from the local RPO budget (Chairman Bill Rich and Hyde County’s paid lobbyists have started this process). Tom believes it is something that can be accomplished, and done so in a way that allows everyone to work together cooperatively.

Dare and Hyde Counties have, "worked together on a lot of things, and should continue to work together," Tom said. "And I think under different circumstances and better communication we could have avoided their input into that being an anti-Hyde vote. I think we just need people who are willing to work together, and I will work hard to establish those relationships so we can have good communications. We can work on these issues together, rather than in a combative way.”

The next installment about Tom and his candidacy will include how he would handle the high duck population and concerns regarding the noise ordinance if he is elected as a Hyde County Commissioner.

Do you have questions for Tom Pahl? Email Crystal at crystalcurrentlee@yahoo.com