{"id":130681,"date":"2026-05-26T22:51:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-recognized-for-excellence-in-financial-transparency\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T22:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:51:22","slug":"cortez-recognized-for-excellence-in-financial-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-recognized-for-excellence-in-financial-transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez recognized for excellence in financial transparency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Cortez
Cortez joins other cities in Colorado in achieving the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, which the city said is \u201cthe highest form of recognition in the field of governmental accounting and financial reporting.\u201d (Journal file photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada recognized Cortez for excellence in financial transparency following the city\u2019s work to correct delinquent audits and end financial mismanagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decisions and actions of prior individuals jeopardized the trust of the community and represented a failure in financial stewardship,\u201d Finance Director Randy Bailey said in a statement. \u201cReceiving this award is a testament to the long hours and dedication shown by the current accounting team, Lynette Reece and Sara Coffey, and the prior finance directors that led early efforts to achieve this award.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting commends the city\u2019s 2024 financial report for its thoroughness and legal compliance. In 2021, the city hired City Manager Drew Sanders and then-Financial Director Kelly Koskie to improve the city\u2019s financial practices following a previous financial director\u2019s embezzlement of tens of thousands of dollars of city funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were brought in to correct our financial unwellness and get our audits into compliance and up to date,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cIt took about 2\u00bd years to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders commended Koskie and City Council for their diligence in catching up on audits, instituting measures for transparency and establishing stronger internal controls. The checks and balances now in place help prevent future embezzlement, according to Sanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing what\u2019s called separation of duties, when it comes to finances and everything else, how we handle our money \u2013 that reduces the risk significantly,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

Sanders pointed to the government\u2019s use of ClearGov<\/a>, an open website displaying the city\u2019s budget, as a major step in being honest and clear with the city\u2019s constituents about its finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just been open. In fact, even tonight at our council meeting there is actually a financial update,\u201d Sanders said, referencing Bailey\u2019s quarterly report scheduled for the City Council meeting Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

The award does not assess the financial health of the city \u2013 which is currently debt-free \u2013 but it signifies to the investors, business partners and residents that the government aims for full financial disclosure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just shows that our audits are what we would term as a single source of truth,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

The award, coming from a third party, lends the government more credibility in its positive assessment of its financial reports, enhancing trust between the city and its residents, Sanders said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not us saying so,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cIt\u2019s somebody else that says that we have independently verified that the city is transparent with our taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The award also shows the city\u2019s readiness if faced with an audit and could aid the city in securing lower interest rates if it ever needed to seek municipal debt, Sanders said.<\/p>\n

While other Colorado cities have received the award dozens of times, this is Cortez\u2019s first. Sanders said the city fell short of achieving the award for its 2023 report but received feedback from the Government Finance Officers Association that helped it secure the award for its 2024 report. Hopefully, he noted, this sets a precedent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really hope to get this year-over-year,\u201d Sanders said.\u2029\u201cThis is just an external manifestation that, hey, we\u2019re doing it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recognition comes after 2016 embezzlement, delinquent audits<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,1698,28,29,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-130681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-finance-general","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130681"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=130681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}