THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 14, 1995 TAG: 9503140317
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SURRY LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
After being rebuffed by the state transportation board and the General Assembly, Surry County officials are contemplating a lawsuit to remove tolls on the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry.
The Board of Supervisors is debating whether it could win a lawsuit based on a 75-year-old statute that established the ferry system, County Administrator Terry Lewis said.
``We've been working on getting the tolls removed for a long time, without a whole lot of progress,'' Lewis said. ``This is just one more alternative we have to look at.''
County Attorney Gerald Poindexter said that when he was researching the ferry issue he found the legislation that allowed the state to acquire the ferry system in the 1920s.
According to Poindexter, the law gave the state the right to charge tolls to defray the cost of buying the ferry system - not its continued operation.
``What it implies to us is that tolls should no longer be collected on the ferry because, essentially, that would not be in keeping with the intent of the legislation,'' he said Friday.
Surry officials say the high tolls - $4 each way - are destroying tourism in the county by discouraging visitors to Jamestown and Williamsburg from crossing the James River to places such as Bacon's Castle and Smith's Fort Plantation.
The tolls have been an issue since they were doubled by the Commonwealth Transportation Board in October 1992.
``It has been a real frustrating effort, and that's an understatement,'' said Surry businessman Earl Hall, one of the leaders of the move to abolish the tolls.
Mike Stevens, owner of the Surrey House Restaurant, said his business declined sharply after the toll was raised. The restaurant has cut its staff by about 20 since the increase, he said.
Surry leaders last year convinced the transportation board to cut the cost of commuter tickets from 50 cents to 25 cents, but the board refused to budge on the issue of the regular cost of a ferry ride.
A bill to eliminate the tolls sailed through the House of Delegates during the 1995 legislative session but was killed by the Senate Finance Committee. by CNB