Overview
The Cherokee County Commission closed FY2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025) with total assets of $48,980,689.29, total liabilities of $36,143,142.69, and total net position of $10,050,641.10. The audit — report 26-487 of the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, filed September 18, 2026 — gives an unmodified opinion on the Commission's financial statements. The auditor's report is addressed to the Commission and County Administrator at Centre, Alabama, confirming Centre as the county seat. Governmental funds took in $23,685,161.01 and spent $33,341,523.64 in the year; the $9,656,362.63 excess of spending over revenue was driven above all by $11,732,431.76 of capital outlay, and fund balances fell by $8,577,364.92 to $16,683,195.86 — while government-wide net position still rose by $1,498,657.42, because capital outlay is capitalized rather than expensed in the government-wide statements.
Source: Cherokee County Commission audit, report 26-487, Summary and Exhibits 1–5.
At a glance
Source: Cherokee County Commission audit, report 26-487, Exhibits 1, 3 and 5.
Assets & net position
The asset lines below re-add exactly to the printed total: $17,489,138.37 + $77.94 + $1,040,482.00 + $4,250,066.29 + $824,373.94 + $14,666,173.64 + $10,710,377.11 = $48,980,689.29. Net position reconciles exactly: $48,980,689.29 + deferred outflows $3,350,853.79 − liabilities $36,143,142.69 − deferred inflows $6,137,759.29 = $10,050,641.10.
| Asset | Sep 30, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cash and cash equivalents | $17,489,138.37 |
| Cash with fiscal agent | $77.94 |
| Investments | $1,040,482.00 |
| Ad valorem taxes receivable | $4,250,066.29 |
| Receivables | $824,373.94 |
| Capital assets, nondepreciable | $14,666,173.64 |
| Capital assets, depreciable, net | $10,710,377.11 |
| Total assets | $48,980,689.29 |
Disclosure — negative unrestricted net position: of the $10,050,641.10 total net position, $10,701,951.69 is net investment in capital assets and $4,254,827.67 is restricted (debt service, road projects, capital projects, law enforcement, other purposes), while unrestricted net position is −$4,906,137.26. The county's overall net position is positive only because capital assets and restricted balances outweigh that unrestricted deficit.
Disclosure — largest long-term liability: the funding agreement payable totals $17,355,000.00 ($40,000.00 due within one year + $17,315,000.00 due after one year), ahead of the net pension liability of $8,523,295.00 and other postemployment benefits of $3,938,954.00.
Source: Cherokee County Commission audit, report 26-487, Exhibit 1 (Statement of Net Position).
Fund balances
Governmental-fund balances total $16,683,195.86. The fund balances below re-add exactly to that total. The Reappraisal Fund ends the year at $0.00: its assets of $959,437.46 are exactly its liabilities ($101,512.35) plus deferred inflows for unavailable property-tax revenue ($857,925.11), leaving no fund balance — it is shown as $0.00 rather than omitted.
| Fund | Balance, Sep 30, 2025 |
|---|---|
| General Fund | $4,930,178.59 |
| Gasoline Tax Fund | $1,269,336.79 |
| 1.5 Cent Sales Tax Fund | $3,911,752.51 |
| Revenue Commissioner's Operational Fund | $4,774.34 |
| Reappraisal Fund | $0.00 |
| Construction Fund | $3,956,073.36 |
| Other Governmental Funds | $2,611,080.27 |
| Total governmental fund balances | $16,683,195.86 |
Year walk (total governmental funds): beginning balances $25,260,560.78 + revenues $23,685,161.01 − expenditures $33,341,523.64 + other financing sources, net $1,078,997.71 = ending balances $16,683,195.86. The Construction Fund accounts for most of the drop: it began at $13,940,076.82, spent $10,460,037.27 (almost all capital outlay), and ended at $3,956,073.36.
Source: Cherokee County Commission audit, report 26-487, Exhibits 3 and 5.
Revenues & spending
Total governmental-fund revenues of $23,685,161.01 re-add exactly from: taxes $11,317,337.33 + licenses and permits $51,117.88 + intergovernmental $7,181,482.12 + charges for services $3,410,943.01 + miscellaneous $1,724,280.67. Total expenditures of $33,341,523.64 are dominated by capital outlay ($11,732,431.76), public safety ($8,419,109.83), highways and roads ($5,497,905.61), and general government ($4,306,414.81). Government-wide, total expenses were $22,399,243.79 against program revenues of $9,657,270.41 (charges $4,278,669.27 + operating grants $5,101,116.26 + capital grants $277,484.88), a net cost of $12,741,973.38, covered by general revenues of $14,240,630.80 — hence the $1,498,657.42 increase in net position, from $8,551,983.68 to $10,050,641.10.
Scope note: the audit states that tests performed did not disclose any significant instances of noncompliance with applicable state and local laws and regulations. Required supplementary information (pension, OPEB, and budget-to-actual schedules, Exhibits 9–17) was not audited and no opinion is provided on it, so no budget-to-actual figure from those schedules is used on this page.
Source: Cherokee County Commission audit, report 26-487, Exhibits 2 and 5 and Summary.
Sources & notes
- Source used: Cherokee County Commission, Cherokee County, Alabama, audit for the period October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025, report 26-487, Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, filed September 18, 2026 (auditor's report dated August 18, 2026) Read the source document. Opinion: unmodified, in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
- Sum checks: assets = $48,980,689.29; net position $48,980,689.29 + $3,350,853.79 − $36,143,142.69 − $6,137,759.29 = $10,050,641.10; fund balances = $16,683,195.86; revenues $23,685,161.01 − expenditures $33,341,523.64 = −$9,656,362.63, plus other financing $1,078,997.71 = net change −$8,577,364.92; $25,260,560.78 − $8,577,364.92 = $16,683,195.86; activities −$12,741,973.38 + $14,240,630.80 = $1,498,657.42; $8,551,983.68 + $1,498,657.42 = $10,050,641.10. No rounding gaps; no forced totals.
- Identity: the audit header and auditor's report name the Cherokee County Commission, Cherokee County, Alabama, and the report is addressed to Centre, Alabama — this is Cherokee County, Alabama, not Cherokee County in any other state, and not the Cherokee Nation. The separate Revenue Commissioner examination (report 26-331) and any Board of Education audit were rejected and are not used on this page.
- Hero photo: no verified freely-licensed hero photo for Cherokee County was found within the attempt cap (Wikimedia Commons courthouse candidates were located but their photographer and license could not be verified from the retrieved source pages), so this page ships photo-less rather than with a generic substitute. Photo record: NONE.
- Jurisdiction palette: no verified palette was established for this jurisdiction (the county site is a stock WordPress build, which is rejected as a palette source), so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a jurisdiction color.