Voters in Carroll County are left in limbo and commissioner candidates? campaigns are uncertain after the redistricting map bill died in the General Assembly on Monday.
“Either we will have five commissioners elected at large, or the courts will rule on a map,” said Del. Nancy Stocksdale.
“I don?t think we have a definitive legal opinion just yet on exactly what will happen if we don?t get a map,” said Janet Jump, president of the county election board and chairwoman of the original redistricting committee.
“I have also heard another scenario where the sitting commissioners stay until the situation is resolved.”
The map bill would have divided Carroll into five districts, expanding the commission from three to five members.
County officials supported one version of the map, grouping Hampstead and Manchester in the Northeast, Taneytown and Union Bridge in the northwest and splitting South Carroll into two parts.
But their counterparts in the statehouse backed the option that made the northern part of the county into one district and grouped Manchester with Taneytown and Union Bridge with Mount Airy.
The delegates said their option gave more leverage to the county?s more rural areas, but some county representatives feared it would allow the election of more pro-development commissioners.
All of Carroll?s senators, delegates and commissioners are Republicans, but contention over the district lines and a proposal to lower property tax assessments led to conflict throughout the session.
Bills that passed
The Carroll County delegation passed several local initiatives including bills that:
» Limit the legal liability of the County Humane Society and Carroll Area Transit System;
» Increase the salary for Sheriff Kenneth Tregoning.
Three bond bills also passed, including $150,000 for the Carroll County Agricultural Center, $50,000 for the Union Street Community Center in Westminster, and $150,000 for the Friendship School in Eldersburg.
