{"id":29670,"date":"2024-01-18T18:01:22","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T18:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/city-of-cortezs-delinquent-audits-completed-after-2016-embezzlement\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:01:30","slug":"city-of-cortezs-delinquent-audits-completed-after-2016-embezzlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/city-of-cortezs-delinquent-audits-completed-after-2016-embezzlement\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Cortez\u2019s delinquent audits completed after 2016 embezzlement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cortez
Cortez City Manager Drew Sanders speaks with community members at the League of Women\u2019s Voters event at the Cortez Public Library on Saturday about the delinquent audits, city budget and more. (Kelly Codner\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

After years of work since the embezzlement of city funds in 2016, the city of Cortez announced on Friday that the backlog of the city\u2019s delinquent audits for the years 2016-2022 have been completed and successfully sent to the Colorado State Auditor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Over the span of a few years beginning Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2018, former City Finance Director Katheryn Moss embezzled<\/a> at least $63,642 from the City of Cortez.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Bureau of Investigations was able to prove that she had embezzled at least that much, though there was know way to know how much she took, since she was able to destroy some of the evidence and \u201ccover her tracks\u201d before she was caught.<\/p>\n

\"Katheryn
Katheryn Moss, former financial director for the city of Cortez embezzled at least $63,642 from the City of Cortez from 2016-2018.<\/span>The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Moss, who was 70 at the time of her sentencing in October of 2022, pleaded guilty to a Class 5 felony charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, two years of probation and required to pay over $78,000 in restitution.<\/p>\n

Since the embezzlement, the City has been working to get its financials on track and get audits caught up.<\/p>\n

\"Cortez
Cortez Finance Director Kelly Koskie.<\/span>Photo Courtesy of The City of Cortez<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Because of the 2016 embezzlement, the city ran into issues with their financial reporting, and the 2016 audit wasn\u2019t completed until 2020 through audit company Mayberry & Co.<\/p>\n

It took four years of research and deep diving into the 2016 financials, embezzlement and software issues in the department to prepare the audits to be filed with the state.<\/p>\n

According to the news release from Cortez Finance Director Kelly Koskie, it is required by Colorado law that \u201cthe governing body of each local government in the state submit an annual audit of its financial statements for each fiscal year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koskie was hired by the city in 2021 to lead the finance department and take the responsibility of working on the delinquent audits.<\/p>\n

When Koskie was brought on, a new audit firm, Atlas CPA\u2019s and Advisors, was also hired to help Koskie and her team tackle the audits and get them up to date.<\/p>\n

There were fears that there could be additional embezzlement in the years 2017 through 2019, leading the team to be extra cautious while tabulating the finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took their time and meticulously went through the financials of the city for each audit year knowing there were possibly additional embezzlement issues for fiscal years 2017-2019 which placed these years in a high risk category,\u201d the news release said. \u201cThankfully, no additional issues were identified.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the completion of the 2016 audit, the 2017 audit was finished in eight months, and the 2018-2019 audits weren\u2019t completed long after, totaling 14 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a massive amount of work for the city\u2019s finance department that was in addition to their day-to-day responsibilities,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n

City Manager Drew Sanders praised Koskie and her \u201cdedicated and competent teamwork of staff,\u201d which included Sara Coffey and Lynette Reece, who help manage financial resources for the city of Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very grateful for the hard work, diligence and dedication exhibited by our finance team that brought us out of a very dark chapter in the history of our city. Our city government is now stronger and better prepared for the future after having experienced this ordeal,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

Koskie also expressed her gratefulness and relief for the audits to be completed after the grueling process when speaking with The Journal <\/em>on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just feels amazing to be back on a regular schedule. And I can tell you, there\u2019s no way that we could have ever done it without our audit firm Atlas CPA,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are so professional and so knowledgeable. They really were the right fit for this particular circumstance. And we also have great leadership with our city manager Drew, and then also Sara Coffee and Lynette Reece, they are just are so hardworking, competent and dedicated. I can\u2019t imagine any other group being able to accomplish such a massive workload.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the audits have been completed, the city did suffer consequences for not filing their audits on time.<\/p>\n

One consequence the city experienced was having property taxes withheld during the years that the audits were not submitted.<\/p>\n

At the request of the State Auditor\u2019s Office, the Montezuma County Treasurer\u2019s Office released the backlog of property taxes in the amount of $920,000 for the years 2017-2021, according to the news release.<\/p>\n

Now that the 2022 audit has been completed and filed with the state auditor, the city should have the 2022 property taxes released soon.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Colorado Conservation Trust Funds were also withheld during this time, when they are normally released quarterly on a per capita basis to be used for Parks and Recreation.<\/p>\n

Now that the audit has been completed, those funds totaling $565,000 have been released to the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a long and arduous journey for the city, but all possible steps were taken to ensure these issues were corrected and internal controls put in place so the risk of this occurring again is greatly diminished. The city of Cortez is now in full compliance with state law, but more importantly, we are in a position to earn back the trust of our residents and taxpayers,\u201d the news release finished.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Sanders was part of a League of Women\u2019s Voters event that took place at the Cortez Public Library.<\/p>\n

According to organizer Judy Schuenemeyer, the members of the League of Women\u2019s Voters and attendees hoped to hear more about what goes into planning a city budget and hearing the status on the audits after the 2016 embezzlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, people are interested in the financial health of the city after an employee embezzles a significant amount of money,\u201d Schuenemeyer said. \u201cAs taxpayers, we all want to know that our money is spent wisely and that there aren\u2019t opportunities for people to embezzle money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders told The Journal <\/em>that part of Saturday\u2019s event was a celebration of the audits getting caught up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to rebuild the financial system, and we had to go back and we went above and beyond to make sure the trial balance is tied together from year to year,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cThat is super-important because now we can look the community in the eye and say, \u2018We have accounted for your money.\u2019 It\u2019s been a very long, arduous journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the safeguards that Sanders mentioned as being strengthened was a \u201cstrict system of internal controls\u201d to make sure not just one person is in charge of and in control of the city\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

Sanders also mentioned that the city is now enrolled with a program called Clear Gov<\/a> that allows citizens to view the city\u2019s budget, financials, where their tax dollars are going and more.<\/p>\n

Koskie echoed Sanders, saying she hoped getting the audits back on track will help rebuild trust in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that it may take some time to rebuild trust as a community, but the people that are in the finance department now are the ones that put in the hard work to correct the mistakes of the past, and I can\u2019t think of anybody who\u2019s going to be more dedicated to making sure that those mistakes don\u2019t happen again,\u201d Koskie said.<\/p>\n

Those who are interested in the city\u2019s budget and financials can enroll in Clear Gov, as well as attend the city\u2019s budget meeting, which will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

comes after years of work from the city\u2019s financial department <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,21,28,60,29,1264],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-property-tax"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29670","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=29670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80823,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29670\/revisions\/80823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29670"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}