CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. – Franklin County Commissioners voted at their last meeting to hire an outside accounting firm to conduct a forensic investigation of the Washington Township tax collector, an action that follows what Commissioner John Flannery described a day earlier as the type of review typically prompted by “suspected anomalies.”
Commissioners unanimously approved an engagement letter with Chambersburg-based accounting firm RKL to investigate the Washington Township tax collector’s office from January 2021 through the present under a contract not to exceed $30,000. The tax collector is Donald Ambrose.
The board offered little discussion about what prompted the investigation during the meeting. Ahead of the meeting, however, Flannery told reporters that forensic investigations are generally requested only when county officials identify potential irregularities, though he declined to elaborate because the review had not yet begun.
County Solicitor Elliott B. Sulcove emphasized that the tax collector is an independently elected official and is not under the authority of the county commissioners.
“Pennsylvania has a tax collection system where the taxing authorities are entirely separate from the tax collectors,” Sulcove said. “Tax collectors are independently elected and are entirely separate from the township and from the school district.”
The investigation will initially cover records from January 2021 through the present, though officials said the review could be expanded or narrowed depending on what investigators find.
County officials said obtaining records may take time because documents are spread among multiple taxing authorities rather than being maintained in one location. If the investigation approaches the $30,000 contract limit, commissioners would need to approve additional funding before expanding the work.
County approves cybersecurity upgrades
Commissioners also approved three agreements to modernize the county’s data storage and backup systems as officials work to strengthen protections against ransomware attacks and manage growing digital storage needs.
Chief Information Officer Sean Crager said the new system will create an “air gap” between the county’s primary network and its backup data, making backups inaccessible to attackers who might gain access to county systems.
“One of the main types of threats that we deal with is something called ransomware,” Crager said. “We’re looking at here is called an air gap solution, which creates distance between our environment and where our backups are.”
Rather than purchasing excess storage capacity in advance, the county will buy only the storage it currently needs and expand capacity as required. Crager said the arrangement spreads costs over four years instead of requiring a large upfront capital purchase.
Commissioners also discussed the growing demand for data centers nationwide and how increased demand has driven up storage costs. Flannery reiterated the county’s opposition to large-scale data centers in Franklin County, while questioning whether future storage capacity could become more difficult to obtain.
The technology purchases were included in the county’s 2026 budget and passed unanimously.
