As they closed out their 2025 spending plan and began to map out a new path for the coming year, supervisors in Franklin Township decided to buy a Cadillac.

It was new, but not shiny. It didn’t have leather seats. In fact, there weren’t even wheels.

Instead, what the supervisors got was a brand-new piece of computer software that will help them straighten out their past finances and make their budgeting process easier along the road ahead.

A week before Christmas, the board approved a consultant’s recommendation to replace its outdated QuickBooks financial software with the latest version.

And at just $2,350, they got a bargain.

The software comes set up with just about everything the township needs to keep track of its income and spending.

As added value, a consultant recommended by the state Association of Township Supervisors will help put the township back on the right road.

Supervisor Fred Kemmerer Jr. said the board was having problems putting a new spending plan together and sought assistance.

He explained their new budget that keeps taxes at 8.64 mills was put together blindly, plugging in last year’s numbers because there weren’t any actual numbers available.

In addition, township officials couldn’t find any audit information for 2023 or 2024 since they hadn’t been filed.

A consultant looked back as far as 2012 to make sure all the municipality’s financials were reconciled.

In addition, new files were set up for 2024-25 and forward that would organize money into separate funds.

Speaking of new, there’s an effort in Harrisburg that could help townships like Franklin sort through the mire of numbers at budget time.

Senate Bill 971 gives second class townships a little more time and structure to make their annual financial reports accurate, complete and transparent for taxpayers.

On paper, the premise is simple. In practice, though, it’s about preventing confusion, avoiding embarrassment and keeping residents’ trust when it comes to how their money is handled.

Essentially, the measure moves the deadline for second class townships to complete their annual financial report from April 1 to June 30 each year.

The extra time makes it easier for townships to get reliable audits and financials, instead of rushed numbers still being pieced together when they should be final.

Under the bill, a township’s financial picture would be fully reconciled and ready to go — not half finished or missing pieces — before it’s presented to the public.

Supervisors, treasurers and auditors would get a realistic time frame to close the books, resolve questions and make sure the numbers match township records.

These days, townships like Franklin were expected to have their annual report filed by the first day of April after the close of the fiscal year. For small staffs already juggling payroll, billing, grant reporting and everyday resident needs, the early deadline complicated things, especially if there were bookkeeping backlogs or staff changes.

At the end of the year, elected auditors charged with reviewing the books don’t often have the expertise to deal with a long list of state rules, and last year Franklin joined the ranks of countless other municipalities using professional certified public accountants to take a look at the books.

But even CPAs can’t review what they don’t have.

In 2025, that description probably fit Franklin Township to a “T.”

A longtime employee who handled the books retired and another resigned not long after. Adding to the mix, an administration department employee was terminated, leaving supervisors in a tough spot.

Given the circumstances, supervisors did the best they could to meet the Dec. 31 budget deadline.

And now that they’ll have better numbers to guide them, they can reopen the budget and make some adjustments, if needed.

Down the road, state lawmakers should have a clear path in getting SB971 to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk.

The better reporting methods it calls for make the entire process cleaner and easier for local governments and the folks who actually run it, helping to relieve some of the pain of the process.

Townships like Franklin that adopt the bill’s requirements deserve genuine praise.

Stable services and cleaner books can assure taxpayers their elected officials are doing the right thing and may help down the road.

Their new Cadillac doesn’t hurt, either.

It may even help get more mileage out of their millage.

ED SOCHA | tneditor@tnonline.com