Futures of the DMV and the Dean Dome: What NC’s GOP State Auditor Boliek says
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Auditor Boliek advocates separating the DMV from DOT; DOT opposes it.
- 2025 bills funded staff increases; Boliek opened Charlotte office and added Raleigh space.
- Boliek will focus on the lottery and local government bonds in 2026.
The Division of Motor Vehicles could become its own state agency this year.
The North Carolina Education Lottery is under a lot of scrutiny.
Local government bonds are also going to get a closer look.
You can hear more about all three of those things — driven by North Carolina’s state auditor — on the latest episode of Under the Dome, which is The News & Observer’s state politics podcast hosted by Capitol bureau chief Dawn Vaughan.
On this new episode for Feb. 24, 2026, Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek talks about what he sees next for the DMV, a troubled agency he campaigned on fixing. New state laws passed in 2025 gave additional funding to the DMV, as well as the auditor’s office.
More space for expanding Auditor’s office
In late 2024, when Republicans still held a supermajority at the General Assembly, they passed legislation after Boliek, a Republican, was elected auditor, and Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, was elected. The bill, which became law via an override of former Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, both provided Helene relief and shifted State Board of Elections power away from the governor and to the auditor. Boliek now appoints the Republican majority to the Board of Elections.
While lawmakers never sent a comprehensive state budget to Stein’s desk in 2025, they did send a few very small spending bills, including one that funded increases in staff for both the DMV and the auditor’s office, and gave the auditor more office space in the Albemarle Building downtown.
Boliek recently opened an office in Charlotte aimed at recruiting auditors to become state employees. He also has taken over two more floors in the Albemarle Building in downtown Raleigh — office space that was once designated for the Department of Administration, a Cabinet agency.
After the podcast recording, Boliek showed The N&O the new office space, now under renovation, for the expanding auditor’s office. His agency’s employees are required to work four days a week in person.
DMV could become separate agency
One of the auditor’s office recommendations is to separate the DMV from the Department of Transportation. In past legislative action, the Highway Patrol and Department of Correction were separated out into their own agencies. The General Assembly could pass more legislation doing the same for the DMV and DOT.
DOT opposes the move. So will it show up in a General Assembly bill this session? Is that making government bigger?
Boliek answers both of those questions on the podcast, as well as why he went from being a newspaper reporter to becoming a lawyer, appointed to the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees and then ran for auditor.
“In a million years, I never would have thought I’d be jazzed to be state auditor. I think the office is, has been, a sleeping giant for years. I said that early on. I think there’s a lot of power — power for the people. Sounds a little hokey to say that, but power for the people through the utilization of the Office of State Auditor in a way that shines a light on how their government works and how their tax dollars are spent,” Boliek said.
Boliek also talks about the lottery and local bonds being key areas that his office will focus on this year.
What’s the Dean Dome’s ROI?
Plus learn what Boliek, a former UNC trustee, thinks is next for the Dean E. Smith Center at UNC Chapel Hill, whose future has been the subject of much recent debate.
“I think the real questions are, what type of return on a building, renovation or new building, whichever direction Chancellor (Lee) Roberts and his team takes. How do you get a return on investment? More than being net positive just 17 days a year, which is what the Smith Center is now,” Boliek said.
Listen to our Under the Dome podcast on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. Podcasts are also embedded at the end of this and other News & Observer politics stories.
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Futures of the DMV and the Dean Dome: What NC’s GOP State Auditor Boliek says."
