The Carroll County Board of Supervisors is considering moving the Auditor’s Office to the courthouse’s lower level, but they are holding off on a decision until all potential solutions are explored. Following renovations to the courthouse’s interior several years ago, the Auditor’s Office moved to the east side of the main entrance, and the supervisors’ meeting room was converted into a driver’s license station. Auditor Kourtney Payer says those two changes have made early voting in prior elections a challenge.
An increasingly large percentage of the total ballots cast in elections are done through absentee voting, and a significant number of those are in person at the Auditor’s Office counter. Around 3,200 voters participated via early voting in the November 2025 election, and Payer says it created a bit of a mess on the main level at times.
Payer is suggesting that the county move the Auditor’s Office down one level to better accommodate elections, which is that office’s primary point of contact for the general public. There is generally much less foot traffic on the ground floor, and that level is handicap-accessible from the south entrance. District 5 Supervisor Mark McCrea says moving the auditor’s office across the hall has already created confusion for residents, let alone a whole different level.
Board Chair Gene Meiners says the Auditor’s Office is one of the primary elected positions in the county, and, with that in mind, he believes it should be centrally located.
The supervisors tabled the discussion at Monday’s meeting until all five board members could be a part of the decision. District 1 Supervisor Scott Johnson was absent, as he was traveling for Carroll County Growth Partnership’s (CCGP) annual advocacy trip to Washington, D.C.
