County sets hearing on North Ferry rates

Residents who have something to say about the North Ferry Company’s proposed rate hike will have their chance to address the Suffolk County Legislature on the issue at a hearing on Tuesday, August 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the W.H. Rogers Legislative Building at 725 Veterans Memorial Highway in Smithtown.

The legislative building is the second building on the right upon entering the County Complex.

Comments can also be submitted by mail to Tim Laube or AnnMarie Pastore at the same address.

This spring, the ferry company proposed a 7.8-percent rate hike that would increase the cost of a round-trip ticket for car and driver between Greenport and Shelter Island from $13 to $15. If the Legislature approves the rate hike, Island residents will pay $52 for a book of 10 tickets, up from $48. The price of a five-day, round-trip pass would increase from $22 to $26. Walk-on rates would remain the same at $1.50 for Island residents and $2 for everyone else.

If approved, it would be North Ferry Company’s first rate hike since June 2004. Company management told the Reporter the hike was due to higher operating costs and slumping ridership, and that the company had been running in the red for the third year in a row.

The Shelter Island Heights Property Owners Corporation owns the ferry. In-county ferries in Suffolk County are regulated by the Legislature.

The proposed rate hike also will be subject to a local hearing before the Shelter Island Ferry Advisory Committee. A date for that has not been announced.

Town Supervisor James Dougherty reported on Tuesday, June 28 that he had met with Bridg Hunt and Julie Ben-Susan of the ferry company at a recent meeting before the town’s Ferry Advisory Committee and that they had presented details of the company’s financial statements.