It might be the most-asked question in Douglas County’s halls of justice — right up there with “Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”

The question is, “Where do I go to pay this speeding ticket?”

“I’ll see people wandering around with a ticket in their hand,” said Ron Stegall, the county’s chief executive probation officer.

Many times, people find they’re not even in the right building. It confuses matters more that the Douglas County Courthouse isn’t used as a courthouse, and what many people commonly call the courthouse is officially called the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St. Throw in Municipal Court a block away on New Hampshire Street, where all city traffic tickets must be paid, and the result can be a frustrating maze for people who need to accomplish official business.

“Usually someone spots me in a confused state and offers to help,” said Leslie Gerstenkorn, of Lawrence, who had to stop Friday in the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center and ask a courtroom deputy for help finding the Lawrence Police Department.

This month, county officials took a simple step toward curbing the public’s misadventures. They installed dozens more signs at a cost of about $16,000.

“Received a ticket?” one of the signs asks. It instructs residents to turn the ticket over and look at whether the violation is in Municipal Court (1006 N.H.) or District Court (111 E. 11th St.) A pair of 5-foot signs in the courtyard between the two “courthouses” lists all the offices and departments that can be found in each building.

The signs are designed to answer questions that department heads say they hear most frequently, said county administrator Craig Weinaug.

He said people wandered into his second-floor office at the courthouse almost every day trying to find the Register of Deeds Office. It’s on the third floor of the courthouse but must be reached by a stairway other than the one used to reach the Court Appointed Special Advocate Office, which also is on the third floor.

A passer-by walks near the new Douglas County Courthouse and Judicial & Law Enforcement Center sign in the courtyard between the two buildings. The county spent about 6,000 on new signs to help direct residents on official business.

“You’ve got to be pretty sophisticated to figure out where you’re supposed to go,” Weinaug said. “Government bureaucrats such as me, I call it the Appraiser’s Office or the Treasurer’s Office. A citizen who comes in, they want to pay their taxes, or they want to appeal their property valuation.”

So far, Weinaug said, it’s too early to say whether the signs have accomplished their purpose.