Springettsbury supervisors accept clean audits, adopt comprehensive plan and approve sewer reimbursement request

Springettsbury Township supervisors on July 20 received an unmodified (clean) audit opinion for the township’s 2023 and 2024 financial statements and for the township’s development authority, and moved to adopt several formal resolutions including the 2025 comprehensive plan and authorization to request 75% reimbursement from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for sewer relocations tied to the I‑83 Section 091 project.

Krista Gardner of SEK, the township’s auditor, told the board the audits comply with generally accepted auditing standards and provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance that financial statements are free of material misstatement. She said auditors found three material weaknesses: a significant volume and dollar amount of proposed journal entries for 2023 and 2024 required to correct materially misstated balances; reconciling work and audit adjustments stemming from a May 2024 financial-software conversion; and some 2024 bank reconciliations that had not been completed in a timely manner but have since been addressed by township management. "We did not become aware of any fraud, illegal acts, material weaknesses or significant deficiencies beyond those communicated," Gardner said.

Gardner summarized key fiscal figures: general-fund revenues were about $21.1 million in 2024 and expenses about $20.16 million, producing a positive change of roughly $947,000; capital projects reported approximately $4.8 million in 2024 revenues and $3.7 million in expenditures, and showed a roughly $3.7 million deficit in the capital projects fund balance that the auditor said reflects grant receivables (ARPA funds) not yet booked; the sewer fund decreased by about $852,000 in 2024. Gardner noted two 2024 GASB pronouncements affecting disclosures tied to prior-period corrections and compensated-absence liabilities.

Township staff and the finance manager described steps already taken after the software conversion to reconcile accounts and improve internal controls, including work with the software vendor (referred to in the meeting as Dallas Data Systems) and implementation of new procedures. The board acknowledged the audit reports and the corresponding DCED and sewer-examination documents.

On formal actions, supervisors moved and approved several resolutions and authorizations by voice vote: adoption of Resolution 2025‑45 (the 2025 comprehensive plan), Resolution 2025‑44 (extending an amended intergovernmental cooperation agreement for implementation of the York County Regional Chesapeake Bay Pollutant Reduction Plan through 2030), and Resolution 2025‑46 authorizing submission to PennDOT for 75% reimbursement of sanitary sewer relocation costs related to the I‑83 project. Regarding the PennDOT item, staff said 75% reimbursement is PennDOT’s standard offer and that any additional funding would not be guaranteed.

The board also acknowledged receipt of the financial statements (items 14a and 14b) and closed the meeting. The township manager said the capital-projects fund deficit should resolve when contingent ARPA reimbursements are received and booked.

What’s next: staff indicated remediation of the audit-identified weaknesses would be a priority going into the 2025 audit cycle; the board set an action to continue evaluating internal controls and reconciliations.