No, a thousand times no

Published 1:49 am Thursday, April 4, 2013

Although the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners once again is expressing its opposition to increasing existing ferry tolls and imposing new ferry tolls on ferry routes that are now free, there’s nothing wrong in reminding the N.C. General Assembly and the area legislators who represent the county in the Legislature about that opposition.

State Sen. Bill Cook, R-Beaufort County, and state Reps. Paul Tine, D-Dare County, and Michael Speciale, R-Craven County, have expressed their opposition to increasing existing ferry tolls and implementing new ones on existing free ferry routes. Sending them — and the Legislature and Gov. Pat McCrory — copies of the resolution will remind them that the county is firm in its resolve to oppose the measure. Other coastal counties have joined Beaufort County in its opposition.

The resolution states “ferries in coastal North Carolina are an integral and indivisible portion of the public highway system in the twenty coastal counties.” It also contends the imposition of ferry tolls on worker-commuter ferries creates an inequitable and unfair distribution of the state’s highway system. It notes that residents of coastal counties support the highway system by paying fuel tax, sales tax and other taxes to the state.

The stand is a good one, and one that we agree with.

Hopefully, the Legislature and governor will not only get the message but also heed it.