{"id":23067,"date":"2025-03-20T15:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T21:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortezs-finance-director-moves-on\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:24:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:24:32","slug":"cortezs-finance-director-moves-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortezs-finance-director-moves-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez\u2019s finance director moves on"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Former
Former Cortez Finance Director Kelly Koskie. (Kelly Koskie\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cortez Finance Director Kelly Koskie, who\u2019s held that title for four years now, is moving 1,000 miles north and west to Sunny Side, Washington, where she accepted a job as the city\u2019s assistant city manager.<\/p>\n

In her time as finance director, Koskie helped get the city to good financial standing, which was a long process after the previous finance director embezzled money.<\/p>\n

When Koskie accepted the role in 2021, Cortez was five years behind in audits and had outstanding debt.<\/p>\n

The audits, which traditionally take three months to complete, took eight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe previous director made a lot of erroneous entries to cover up her embezzling,\u201d Koskie said. \u201cWe had to take those entries out and correct them, and it took time to find the correct information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koskie and her \u201camazing, resilient\u201d team of four also \u201cconsolidated investments that were once scattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within a year and a half, that consolidation \u201cincreased our return on investments by over 200%,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

To rebuild community trust after the embezzlement, the city started using a budgeting software that gives the community access to it, so they can see where the money is going.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made a lot of headway,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cortez is also now debt-free, thanks to Koskie and her \u201chardworking\u201d team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll really miss the leadership and finance team,\u201d she said. I\u2019ve so enjoyed my time with the city of Cortez.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koskie was born and raised in Montezuma County and moved to Sunny Side after graduating from Fort Lewis College.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lived there for 15 years, when my daughter was young,\u201d said Koskie.<\/p>\n

She still has friends there, as well as the home her daughter grew up in.<\/p>\n

So when the assistant city manager position opened up, \u201cI had friends calling, asking if I was going to apply and telling me to come back, we miss you,\u201d Koskie laughed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an opportunity to \u201cspread my wings,\u201d and pursue more than just finance; as assistant city manager, Koskie will dabble in I.T., H.R. and even the municipal court.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, her daughter and 5-year-old grandson live 30 minutes away.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many things came together,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to quality time with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those many reasons, Koskie accepted the position and starts on April 14; \u201cthe moving van arrives on April 8,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cortez\u2019s director of finance position has yet to be filled. Columbia Ltd., a recruiting firm that has hired several city workers in the past, is actively looking to fill her position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to give a huge thank you to our leadership, finance and City Council for the support they\u2019ve given us,\u201d Koskie said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s gone over and above, supporting us and our vision for what finances in the city ought to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

helped get the city to good financial standing after embezzlement <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23067","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=23067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77965,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23067\/revisions\/77965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23067"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}