Happy Thanksgiving! A resolution on the ferry to DI has arrived

County sweetens deal for Daufuskie ferry operator By JOSH McCANN jmccann@islandpacket.com 843-706-8145 Published Tuesday, November 23, 2010 7 Comments Email Article | Print Article | Feeds | | Search the Archive tool nameclose tool goes here The last remaining operator of public Daufuskie Island ferries plans to keep running for another year under a new agreement that could prove more costly to Beaufort County. The county pays private ferry providers to take some riders, such as property owners and residents, between Hilton Head Island and Daufuskie. The county recoups some of its expenses through fees, which range from $2 per trip for students or seniors to $7 for people who own property on Daufuskie but don't live there. The county's last contract called for it to pay $13.50 per passenger to J&W Corp. and $13 per passenger to Palmetto Ferry Co., although Palmetto has since ceased service. The unsubsidized cost for riders such as tourists is $28 round trip, according to the website for Calibogue Cruises, the name under which J&W's ferry service operates. Under the new agreement, which was still being finalized Tuesday, the county will pay the per-passenger fee and a daily base price to J&W, said Morris Campbell, director of the county's Community Services Division. The base price will be $500 per day through February, $300 per day through May and $150 per day through September. It will guarantee two round trips a day, Monday through Friday, and one on Saturday, Campbell said. The new base price should rapidly deplete the $150,000 in state and county funds that county officials expect to have for ferry service in the 2010-11 fiscal year, Campbell said. "It's going to really hit the budget fairly hard," he said. Depending on how much the county spends on the service in coming weeks, officials might need to look for grants, reduce runs or raise riders' fees, he said. Without the new base price, J&W couldn't afford to continue service because it isn't ferrying as many non-subsidized passengers as before the recession, owner Wick Scurry said. Two years ago, early-morning runs typically carried 70 to 100 contractors to Daufuskie to build houses. "Now, I have two if I'm lucky," Scurry said. Scurry said he would have kept running ferries to Daufuskie in the absence of a new deal with the county, but he would have done so on a different schedule to serve tourists and wouldn't have guaranteed runs if, for example, the weather was poor. I'd like to thank Josh Mccan for reporting on Hilton Head and Wick Scurry for his continued negotiation with the county. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.