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uried deep — page 338 — in the 342 page state budget last year were two dozen lines that represent a big change for residents of Pamlico County who take ferries across the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers.

The language in the Budget that forces tolls on the ferries serving Pamlico County.

That brief section mandates that by April 1, the Ferry Division has to charge a toll for the first time on the two commuter ferries serving Pamlico County — the Minnesott-Cherry Branch and the Aurora-Bayview ferry routes. The mandate also called for raising tolls on the three routes already charging them – Southport and the Swanquarter and Cedar Island ferries to Ocracoke, which serve a vacationing clientele.

The point of imposing the tolls and raising the others was to generate, — but as it turns out, not net — five million dollars a year. However, the budget specifically forbade the Department of Transportation from charging a toll on the most-travelled route (and one where the majority of riders are tourists) at Hatteras-Ocracoke. Nor, the budget dictated, could the Knott’s Island ferry charge a toll.)

The shorthand explanation for why that happened is that the Republican leadership in the House needed the votes of the two Democrats in those districts — Bill Owens and Tim Spear — in order to override Democratic Governor Beverly Purdue’s veto. They broke ranks with their party, helped get the GOP majority’s budget passed and kept their ferries free.

Pamlico County’s State Representative, Norman Sanderson, did not break ranks with his party. A Republican and freshman House member, Sanderson last spring voted twice for the budget which included the tolls on the local ferries.

State House Representative Norman Sanderson at the February 15 DOT hearing at Pamlico Community College. He took to the floor for 2 minutes that night to defend his vote for the budget that included the tolls that many Pamlico County residents oppose.

At a DOT public hearing on February 15 at Pamlico Community College, Representative Sanderson came in for criticism both for his action — voting for the budget with the tolls embedded in it — and his inaction — of not having tried at budget time to keep the local ferries free.

After the DOT hearing, TownDock.net interviewed the Representative and started out by asking what kind of case he had made in Raleigh to stop the tolls on the local ferries at Minnesott and Aurora.

“When this came through, it was too late,” Sanderson said. “It had already been through committee.”

In January 2011 the News and Observer reported that two Republican House and Senate leaders were already talking about a budget that would, among other things, make “beach visitors pay more to ride state ferries.” Subsequent stories in April reported that at least as early as March, a House committee had been looking at charging tolls on ferries that hadn’t been charged before.

In the interview, Norman Sanderson says the first he heard of tolls for the ferries serving Pamlico County was when the tolls were already written in to the budget. The first House vote on that budget was May 3.

“I did not know anything about this was coming through Transportation (Committee.),” Sanderson said Wednesday night. “They didn’t ask the people down here on the coast. I was not asked what I thought about it or anything. The first time I saw it was when I read the budget.”

The first budget to come out of committee in late April called for all 7 routes to charge fares, which would have more evenly distributed the burden. Two days later, the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry had been exempted. An amendment on May 3 exempted the Knott’s Island ferry.

Representative Sanderson was asked why he didn’t offer an amendment once he saw that the Minnesott-Cherry Branch and Aurora-Bayview ferries riders would be charged.

“You couldn’t really make an amendment.” Sanderson said. “If you could find a place in the Ferry Division to find that 5 million dollars, then you could offer an amendment. But you could not offer an amendment without also a solution of where to come up with that money. And that would have meant cutting the schedule, cutting whatever..”

Moments earlier, Sanderson told a constituent after the hearing that his was just one voice out of 120 members of the House.

When the constituent said, “But you’re our voice,” Sanderson replied, “One voice gets drowned in 120. Let me tell you why. They think that the ferry system is not worth the cost.”

Scene from a Commuter Ferry. Vehicles arriving on the ferry at Minnesott Beach in the pre-dawn hours. Toll opponents say that the commuter ferries serving Pamlico County are highways used by workers to get to jobs. They say it should remain toll-free like the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry, the majority of whose passengers are out of state visitors.

In the interview with Representative Sanderson, he was reminded that at least one amendment about ferry tolls — to exempt Knott’s Island — was made to the budget.

“That’s the one thing I have against this thing more than anything else,” said Sanderson.

Asked again about the amendments or arrangements the other lawmakers made on behalf of their ferries, Sanderson responded, “I need to be careful.” He paused. “That’s how politics works. I wasn’t there when those arrangements were made. I wasn’t allowed to be there. So, I don’t know what deals were cut and what arrangements were made. They (the Republican leadership in the House) had to have 3-4 votes from the other side to pass the budget and override the veto.”

An excerpt from the interview:

TownDock: “But I think I heard some people saying tonight that you should have done more. That you should have been in more of a leadership role and fought this in Raleigh.”

Norman Sanderson: Well, you know, that’s real simple to say, but you’ve got to be inside that system and know how it works. And, you know, that’s not an easy thing to accomplish, to go stand on somebody’s desk and say, “If you don’t do this, I”m not going to vote for this thing,” because then, you’ve got 10 million more people coming after you saying, “Why didn’t you pass that budget?”

TownDock: But you might’ve held out…

Norman Sanderson: No.

TownDock: No? You could not have held out?

Norman Sanderson: I’m not gonna sell my vote even to my own party and to me that’s what it would have been.

TownDock: But that’s what the other two Representatives did (who got the Outer Banks ferries to remain toll-free.)

Norman Sanderson: I know, and that’s something they’ve got to answer to, not me. I think you make your argument and your reasons known and appeal to the common sense in everybody and I don’t think enough of that was done.

TownDock: But in politics, if you have something that they (the House leadership) want from you, can’t you say, “We need some comfort here about our ferries.”?

Norman Sanderson: I can’t be that kind of politician. That’s what I went to Raleigh to change. I don’t believe in backroom deals and I don’t believe in stuff that’s made like that.

Asked what he will do now, Sanderson said he would attend the March 9 meeting of the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee in Raleigh. The point is to seek a delay in the tolls until after the Legislature returns for its session in May.

Sanderson said more than once that he encouraged the public to attend that meeting in Raleigh. “It’s a public meeting and there’ll be a public input time. And so, that’s what I’m hoping will happen.”

Some opponents of the toll are in the planning stages of chartering some buses to go to that meeting. But wouldn’t the committee be looking to him, as the Representative of those residents who are about to have to pay tolls on two of their ferry routes?

“I don’t know that they will let me speak as a legislator,” Sanderson said of the March 9 meeting. “They’ll probably make me speak as a private citizen, which I’ll be glad to do too.”

Sanderson said he needed help from the public at and before the Committee meeting on March 9.

“They may ask my opinion but they’re not going to look to me,” Sanderson said. “My one voice, they may out of respect listen to what I have to say, but that’s not gonna make an impression on them. What’s gonna make an impression on them is everybody that has turned out for these meetings to email, to write, to call these offices of these committee members. It’ll get their attention and that’s what has to be done.”

He was asked if it was he or his constituents who had to take the lead on this.

Sanderson’s response: “It’ll take all of us. I’d be glad to do whatever my portion can be. You know, if that’s the spokesperson, if that’s the person that offers whatever legislation we can offer, you know, that’s my part.”

To that point, would he introduce legislation to remove the tolls from the Minnesott-Cherry Branch and Aurora-Bayview ferries?

“I do plan on doing that unless we can back this whole thing up. Because I don’t think the full economic impact has been looked at enough, ‘cause I don’t think the ferries are going to come anywhere close to the landmark (generating $5 million dollars a year)that’s been set for it. And we need to go back and look at that situation.”

A vista on to the Neuse from the Minnesott-Cherry Branch ferry. The window is still open — but closing — for chances to delay the tolls on April 1.

“I heard the message,” Sanderson said after the hearing at which three dozen Pamlico County residents assailed the toll, and some, him. “The timing is wrong, and I don’t think they’ve looked at the repercussions.”

The repercussions could go away if the tolls — mandated in the budget he voted for — were removed. Could Sanderson introduce a bill to remove the tolls?

The Representative replied, “Now that’s what I have to check on. Because this is an appropriations issue and I would that’s got to be handled a little differently. So, I have to get with the legal department and find out the best way to do that, if we can do that.”

Sanderson, who lives in Arapahoe, says he takes the ferry five days a week to a child care center he runs in Havelock. He is a freshman representative this term. In November’s election, Sanderson is seeking the State Senate seat which Jean Preston, who also voted for the budget and the tolls, is vacating.

Posted Monday February 20, 2012 by Melinda Penkava