The City of Salida has announced the long-planned retirement of Finance Director Aimee Tihonovich, effective May 29, 2026.
Aimee Tihonovich, Salida Finance Director. Courtesy photo
Tihonovich was named Finance Director in May, 2019 after a nearly 30-year career with Pueblo County in the Budget and Finance Department. Her tenure there included stints as Economic Development Director as well as Controller, among others.
A broad background was needed in 2019 as the city finance department was in a state of organizational turmoil and dysfunction, as well as being delinquent in filing the annual audit. Together, the new finance team turned the ship around, caught up on all required filings, and regained the confidence of the city council and respect from department staff.
Rising to the challenge, Tihonovich and her team have gone on to win multiple awards from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) in both budgeting and financial reporting. This month, for example, the city’s 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) met the criteria for the Excellence in Financial Reporting Award for the fourth consecutive year.
In addition, GFOA has awarded the Salida team the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 budgets.
Succession Planning Shifts Gears as Assistant Finance Director Announces Resignation
Kristen Hussey, Assistant Salida Finance Director. Courtesy photo
Kristen Hussey, CPA joined the Finance team in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and a year later, was promoted to Assistant Finance Director. With work centered largely in Accounts Payable, Hussy is credited with implementing a new system streamlining payments to vendors electronically, rather than using paper checks. Other software and process modernizations have also marked her record.
For some years, with a strong and locally-based assistant in place, the City Treasurer and Finance Committee assumed that an easy transition would be for Hussey to be the top choice once Tihonovich retired. However, nearly six years (and two children) later, the picture has changed.
“Kristen Hussey has submitted her resignation [effective March 12] to focus on her young family. We are grateful for her years of excellent service and wish her the very best,” wrote Tihonovich in the latest Salida Department Reports. Commenting on another key member of the team, Tihonovich notes:
“Abby Melia will be promoted and will assume the majority of Kristen’s responsibilities. Some duties will be redistributed within the finance office, and Abby’s former position—which included walk-in customer service and accounting functions—has been posted.
The position has been restructured to provide additional administrative support to the City Administrator and City Council, as well as finance office administrative duties and counter support for City Hall inquiries.”
The position of Salida Finance Director will be posted “sometime in March,” noted Tihonovich.
Major Projects Are Tracking
On the immediate horizon is the annual financial audit process. External auditors are due in Salida for their field work in the next two weeks and the entire Finance team has been busy doing all their preparations. While a “clean” audit is never taken for granted, the processes and systems the team has in place are likely to result in good findings once again.
Next up will be the annual City Council Retreat, set for March 27. During that professionally facilitated session, council members, the City Treasurer, City Attorney, and department heads discuss projects and priorities for 2026 and beyond, including high level budget objectives and constraints. Outcomes from that meeting will inform departmental goal setting.
After the retreat, “I will again lead the creation of the ‘base budget’ for 2027,” said Tihonovich. The base budget is prepared after closely looking at prior year actual revenue and expenses, line by line. In the months that follow, a newly-hired Finance Director will lead department heads in refining the base budget. Staff will be asked to submit their requests for new or different line items as well as contribute proposals for any capital expenditures.
Given the current levels of sales tax revenues and debt service for the fire station, it may well be a lean budget year again, before public comment and the budget being adopted by the council, generally in October.
Featured image; Salida Elected official and city staff participate in 2024 retreat. Merrell Bergin photo