Commissioners oppose ferry tolls, and discuss how they could have been avoided altogether by an eastern By-pass | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

   At their regular monthly meeting February 6, 2012 the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to support a resolution offered by Robert Cayton opposing the imposition of ferry tolls on the Bayview/Aurora ferry.

   As an expense cutting item, the N. C. Legislature passed a budget which called for the Ferry Division to raise five million in revenue from tolls. The Division has been holding public hearings on the issue and a groundswell of public opposition has developed to the new tolls.

   In the video Rev. Cayton explains his reasoning.

   Then Commissioner Hood Richardson brings up a different perspective. He review how the U. S. 17 By-pass came to be located west of Washington rather than east of the city, which Mr. Richardson contends would have eliminated the ferry all together and thus would have reduced the expense of operating it and at the same time made travel between the northern and southern parts of the county more efficient.

   We'll let the video explain the story.