Only a few procedural steps remain for the Carroll County Board of Supervisors to finalize the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget after they set elected officials’ salaries, approved pay raises for county employees, and determined non-profit funding for non-government organizations (NGOs). With the end of the Carroll County Compensation Board, the supervisors are now more directly involved with pay adjustments to elected positions. Each official presented their request, and the board determined their pay independent from the other offices. The pay increase requests were: 10 percent for County Sheriff Ken Pingrey, nine percent for County Treasurer Lisa Wagner, 15 percent for County Recorder Ashten Wittrock, four percent for County Auditor Kourtney Payer with a $5,000 budget director stipend, 2.5 percent for County Attorney John Werden, and a pay freeze for the County Supervisors. District 4 Supervisor Stephanie Hausman says the elected officials’ pay discussion is one of the board’s hardest decisions every year.
Each official made their case, using comparable pay levels from neighboring and peer counties for like positions throughout the state. The back-and-forth led to a few spirited exchanges. District 2 Supervisor Gene Meiners says new regulations from the state are squeezing the budget, and harsher cuts could be possible down the line if they aren’t cautious.
Some offices required multiple attempts for the supervisors to land on a figure. After a lengthy discussion, the board finally approved setting elected officials’ pay increases at five percent for the sheriff, 2.5 percent for the treasurer, recorder, auditor, and county attorney, and zero percent for the supervisors. That vote passed 4-1, with Hausman being the sole nay vote. The supervisors also set pay for non-union and nonelected staff, which ranged from 2.5 percent to 7.5 percent based on position and need for market adjustments. NGO funding was kept at a level similar to FY25 for most requested agencies. With those figures now set, the supervisors scheduled the public hearing for the FY26 proposed property tax levy for Monday, March 24, at 9 a.m. The preliminary budget will need to be updated with the figures approved on Thursday, but county officials predict the levy rate will be lower than the current fiscal year, which is $4.609480 per $1,000 of taxable assessed valuation for urban properties and $7.864280 for rural ones.
