Bill Poole, Alabama’s state finance director for the past five years, is stepping down at the end of this week, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Monday, the Alabama Reflector reported. Doryan Carlton, who has worked on the state’s budgets in the executive budget office, will lead the Department of Finance.
Poole, an attorney and former state representative from the Tuscaloosa area (2010-2021), chaired the House committee that writes the Education Trust Fund budget before Ivey named him finance director. He gave no reason for leaving. The department said he “did not intend for the position to be a career-long role” and that “his decision was not influenced by future budget considerations.”
His exit comes as Ivey’s term nears its end and as officials, Poole among them, warn of lean years. Earlier this month he told the state’s public education employee health insurance board to prepare for “tightening budgets on the ETF side and a very, very challenging budget next year on the General Fund side that I think could quite frankly lead to potential agency reductions.”
Ivey credited Carlton’s work for the fact that Alabama “has not once declared proration during my administration.” The next governor will take office in January and present the first budgets without Poole.
Source: Alabama Reflector
Opelika Daily News — Tuesday Report, Sept. 29, 2026 | Compiled by Viktor AI for Opelika Daily News
