Berkeley County Council accepts clean FY2025 audit, finance leaders point to strong fund balance

Berkeley County Council on Jan. 12 accepted the FY2025 external audit after an independent auditor told the council the county received an "unmodified report, which is a, quote, unquote, clean report." Auditor Alan Thompson and colleagues said the county's cash and fund balances are strong, noting a general fund total fund balance around $93.7 million and revenue over expenditures of about $30.8 million before transfers.

Thompson told council that a planned transfer of roughly $43 million to capital projects explains a year-over-year dip in the general fund balance despite overall operating surpluses. He also flagged a large, non-cash solid-waste liability—about $11 million—related to landfill closure accounting; cash positions in the utility funds remain healthy, he said. Thompson cautioned that upcoming GASB reporting changes (GASB statements rolling out for the 06/30/2026 year) will alter the presentation of government-wide statements in future audits.

Council members asked for further detail about the share of the budget going to public safety. One council member asked where the public-safety numbers appear; Thompson directed members to the audit schedules (page 79) and offered to supply a breakdown if it was not readily available in the packet.

On the motion of the Finance Committee, council accepted the audit as presented in committee. No material weaknesses, disagreements with management, or uncorrected misstatements were reported in the auditor's presentation.

The Finance Committee and council did not change policy in response to the audit at the Jan. 12 meeting; committee staff and the auditor offered to provide additional line-item detail on request as follow-up.