Folks have been watching the new Republican-controlled Dare County Board of Commissioners since the members were sworn in Dec. 1 to see what changes there might be after the power shift — the first one in several decades.
And some observers find one of the board’s first high-profile actions a curious one for the newly empowered Republicans.
At its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 20, the board voted unanimously to send a letter to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, written by board chairman Bob Woodard, asking him to investigate “exorbitant” gas prices in the county.
This action comes close to opposing free enterprise and even asking for some government oversight, if not control, on pricing — not usually very Republican sentiments.
The commissioners were spurred on by an outcry about gas prices on a Facebook page that first appeared this month — OBX GAS 2 HIGH.
The Facebook group is protesting the fact that gas prices on the Outer Banks are higher than the North Carolina average and higher than other areas in the region. The price difference, the groups says, is because of price “gouging” in a resort area. Some members have made posts accusing the owners of gas pumps of price-fixing, collusion and some other pretty nasty and illegal moves.
The national average price for unleaded regular gasoline in the U.S. yesterday was $2.04 per gallon. In North Carolina, it was $2.10. North of the bridge, prices varied, but lower prices were in the vicinity of $2.25 to $2.27 a gallon.
On Hatteras Island, some sampled prices included $2.30 in Rodanthe, $2.48 in Buxton, and $2.49 in Hatteras village. On Ocracoke, regular gas was going for $2.89 a gallon.
By contrast, the average price in Currituck County was $2.14 and gas could be found in some places along the highway from the Outer Banks into Chesapeake, Va., below $2 a gallon.
The letter that the commissioners sent to Cooper said that Dare County was “experiencing a huge disparity in gasoline prices compared to our neighboring counties” and that the prices being “forced” on residents and visitors “far exceed the prices elsewhere in our region and the average rate in North Carolina.”
The prices, the letter said, place a “harsh and unjust” burden on people and threaten the tourism-based economy. It also said that commissioners have heard from many who consider the high prices a “consumer trap designed to take advantage of those traveling to Dare County on vacation.”
The board asks Cooper to investigate gasoline pricing and take action to remedy the problem as quickly as possible.
One other county in North Carolina made a similar request of the Attorney General earlier this month. That’s Moore County in the Piedmont, which is also in a wealthier resort area.
State law prohibits price gouging during a state of emergency, such as storms, but otherwise gas prices are largely controlled by the free market.
It’s easy to be against high gas prices. Everyone would like to see cheaper gas. And it’s politically expedient for the commissioners to ask for investigation.
However, in all the heated rhetoric, it would seem that there are a lot of facts being ignored and many questions that are not being asked.
- Gas prices, controlled by a global market, have been in free-fall for several months now and have been especially volatile in the past month.
- The prices vary widely by state, depending on many factors, including state taxes.
- Gas prices have historically been higher on the Outer Banks because it is a resort, a vacation destination. Property costs more here and labor costs are more competitive, among other things.
- The cost of living in Dare County is higher than the rest of the county, again because it is a resort. The composite cost of living index in Dare is 106.6 — or 6.6 percent higher than the national average.
- Gas prices have historically been higher on the Outer Banks — and especially on Hatteras and Ocracoke — because of transportation costs. The fact that access to Hatteras and Ocracoke can be cut off, or made more time-consuming and difficult, plays into that cost.
- Gas prices on the Outer Banks — and, again, especially on Hatteras and Ocracoke — are affected by our proximity to the water, which, in turn, affects, the cost of doing business with such issues as environmental regulations and salt corrosion of equipment.
- Everything — not just gas — costs more on the Outer Banks because we are a resort and because of the transportation costs. That includes everything from milk to diapers to pizzas.
- Everything costs more in our smaller, locally owned businesses than in large, chain stores, which have really been a factor here only for the past couple decades. That goes for supermarkets, pharmacies, and gas stations.
- Gas prices are higher in other resort areas of the state — in Moore County, as already noted, and in the western mountain vacation towns.
- Gas costs more than the statewide average in other resort areas also. For instance, the average price of regular gas in South Carolina is $1.85, but in the area of Georgetown/Pawley’s Island it is $1.98.
- Visitors to the Outer Banks may not be “startled” by the prices at the pump, as the commissioners have written in their letter. Yesterday, the average price for regular was lower in three states from which many of our visitors come — $1.97 in Virginia, $1.95 in New Jersey, and $1.92 in Ohio. However, it was considerably higher in three others — $2.28 in Pennsylvania, $2.44 in the District of Columbia, and $2.46 in New York.
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I’m not an economic expert on the global oil economy nor am I a lawyer who can address the legal issue of price-fixing or gouging. However, as a reporter and as a resident, it seems clear to me that the prices at the pump are, for the most part, dictated by the free market, supply and demand, and the costs of doing business.
I can’t speak for gas-pump owners on the northern beaches, but I don’t believe my friends and neighbors who have gas pumps on Hatteras or Ocracoke are gouging their neighbors or our visitors.
The bottom line is that it’s probably a good thing that the Attorney General’s office, presumably the Consumer Division, will be taking a look at Outer Banks gas prices and, presumably, will render an opinion.
However, whether we like it or not, gas prices will probably remain higher here than in other regions of the state — for many reasons.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Click here to read the entire letter written by Bob Woodard, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners and approved unanimously by the rest of the board.
