Aguilar Paid Settlement, Then Former Clerk Faced Criminal Charges
The Town of Aguilar approved a $20,000 settlement in June 2025 with former clerk and administrator Tyra Avila, and three months after the payment auditors and investigators uncovered alleged theft from the same accounts. The settlement and subsequent criminal charges deepen concerns about the town's finances and the future of a stalled water project that matters directly to residents.
Aguilar quietly approved a $20,000 payment on June 26, 2025 to settle an employment dispute with former clerk and administrator Tyra Avila, nine months after her resignation in September 2024. The agreement closed a complaint Avila filed with the Colorado Civil Rights Division in September 2024, released multiple statutory claims, and directed the payment to her attorneys at Van Hall Employment Law LLC while preserving the town's right to bring claims for actions during her 17 year tenure.
The settlement came against a backdrop of years of troubled audits and mounting financial stress. Auditor James Rae presented the 2023 audit in September 2025 and issued a disclaimer of opinion, the strongest indication that the town's financial statements could not be verified. That was Aguilar's fifth consecutive disclaimer dating to 2019. The town's utility accounts showed steep losses, with the water fund down nearly $300,000 over three years, producing $220,000 in revenue in 2023 while spending $345,000 plus $79,000 in debt service. The natural gas fund ran a $76,000 deficit. Rae had previously warned during the 2022 audit review that the town "may not survive beyond 2026" once full liabilities were accounted for.
The financial narrative shifted further in October 2025 when Avila surrendered to authorities and was charged with theft, cybercrime, embezzlement of public property, forgery, and fraud by check. Investigators allege she diverted $26,721 in unauthorized transfers and misused federal funds tied to Aguilar's long stalled augmentation reservoir project. That project was funded in 2021 with more than $6 million in USDA loans and grants and was intended to secure the town's water supply and compliance with state law. By early 2024 contractors Schmueser Gordon Meyer and Siete Inc. had halted work after months of unpaid invoices. USDA loan specialists flagged irregular withdrawals and transfers unrelated to the project's scope, prompting reviews by the USDA Office of Inspector General and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Avila is free on a $15,000 bond and is presumed innocent until proven guilty, with her next court date set for January 14, 2026. For Aguilar officials and residents the immediate tasks remain the same, reconcile accounts, complete the reservoir, and restore trust in municipal management. The settlement and the criminal charges now sit side by side in the town's ledger as officials pursue accountability and options to stabilize municipal services and protect the town's water future.
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