Springfield Ohio Finance Department

Not So Fun Facts about Katie Eviston's Finance Department

How many Finance Directors, Assistant Directors, Managers, Analysts, Coordinators, does it take for a town of 58,000 citizens and 4 pie slices in Katie's pie chart she uses in her annual Commission meeting presentations. I believe it's 60%, maybe 80% of all the money goes in a "public safety"/"general" fund. They use these words interchangeably, depending on their need.

Finance Analyst Supervisor job created in 2022/3 at $121,308 (Juanita Downing - her expenses are )
Staff Accountant Emily Ogden hired late 2022/3 at $54,192 (2023) - replaced previous person
Grants Accountant Kathleen Vest hired 2022 at $69,065 - replaced previous person
Senior Accountant Matthew Welbaun hired 2023 at $47,039
They just hired an Assistant to the City Treasurer, created Financial Analyst and Financial Analyst Supervisor positions.

The Department just keeps exploding despite the high turnover. Senior Accountants who have left within a year - Mark Young, mid 2021, Nicole Billetter early 2023, Erica Stanley came and went 2022, Andrea Smith came and went in 2022.

Tiffany Smith left in 2025 after being promoted in April 2025 to Assistant Finance Director (140K (per job posting) from Utility Billing Manager (90K), a sjob she was hired into in mid-2023. In 2 years, she was promoted from Billing Manager for the utilities to Assistant Director, and her salary increased $50,000. And then she quit, citing moral and ethical conflicts (see below), giving 3 weeks' notice and they escorted her from the building the next day. Per HR Director Leslie McDermott's reply to my question, "Tiffany Smith's last day in the office was October 16, 2025, and her termination date was November 3, 2025".

Update: December 11, 2025. Heck answered an inquiry saying that, "With our organization's reduction in force in 2025 and continuing into 2026 the open Assistant Finance Director position is not planned to be filled."

Make no mistake, this is temporary. There are still 29 other positions, including the newly created ones listed above and pictured below. And the Finance Analyst job is still open for a $70K person.

For salary details that include 2024

And Episodes 3 and 4

Finance Director Katie Eviston travels extensively. She went to the national Finance Directors Conference in Orlando, Florida and spent several days in high-dollar hotels.

Her credit card expenses in 2024 were $30,904.39. Public Records request has been submitted for the details. What the hell is this woman buying?!?!

Katie Eviston
Finance Director
2019 Accounting Budget Manager at $76,277.
2020 Budget Manager at $91,791.
2021-2022 Assistant Director of Finance at $101,116 and $114,504
2023-2024 Director of Finance $147,095 then $165,143.
So, from 2019-2024, in 4 jobs flying up the ranks to replace the retiring person, her salary increased from $76,277 to $165,143 or $88,866 or 116.5%.

Nicole Weber
Assistant Finance Director
2019-2022, she was Grants acct, staff acct, etc. with significant increases.
For example, as City Treasurer (2019-2020), her salary increased from $69,991 in 2019 to $86,193 in 2020, or $16,202 or 23%.
(In 2021, she took a year as Finance Consultant at $57,711.)
In 2022, she was promoted from City Treasurer at $86,193 to Asst Finance Director at $108,649, an increase of $22,456 or 26%.
In 2023, her salary increased from $108,649 to $133,441 or $24,972 or 22.8%. (this was the City's overall year from the heavens)
In 2024, her salary increased from $133,441 to $143,611, or $10,170 or 7.6%.
So, as Asst Finance Director, from 2022 to 2024, her salary increased from $108,649 to $143,611, or $34,962 or 32%. In TWO years.

2nd Assistant Finance Director - open position at ~$140K.

Mark Beckdahl (retired in Jan 2023, and yet still paid, so we had TWO Finance Directors in 2023 to the tune of :
From 2019-2022, in same job as Director of Finance, his salary increased from $111,393 to $142,130, a $30,737 or 30% increase.
2019: $111,393
2020: $126, 567
2021: $135, 451
2022: $142, 130
2023: $116,094 (Katie's new appointment and his retirement were announced in January 2023, so I don't know why he was paid a salary.)

Since taking over in January 2023, Katie Eviston:

Hired TWO new Assistant Finance Directors
Created another (there was already a Budget Manager role - she was in it in 2020) Accounting and Budget Manager job (in October 2024 at $102K)
Created a Finance Analyst Supervisor job (in 2022/3 at $121K)
Created a Finance Analyst job (in September 2025 at $75K)

That alone adds up to (in 2023 dollars):
Finance Director = $147,000
Asst Finance Director (2) = $270,000
Budget Manager = $102,000
Finance Analyst Supervisor = $121,308
Finance Analyst (2025) = $72,000
City Treasurer = $83,000

Grand total: 795,308 in base salary alone. For Katie's Finance department. ONE pie slice for general funds in a town of 58K.

The Springfield News-Sun Jan 2023 article, titled, "The new finance director truly has a servant's heart".

First, that's not really a news headline or article.

Second, it wouldn't be a new day without a new SNS lie.

The numbers above don't scream servant, do they?

How is She Allowed Anywhere Near OUR Money?

Rhetorical question, of course. Everyone paying attention knows why.

Two examples below of Travel and Expense Reports handled by the Finance Department for one OCMA Conference in Columbus. (These folks spend a LOT of time at conferences and paying registration and membership fees. Since a lot of our corruption concerns are not unique, I imagine a Conference for City Managers teaches from a national playbook.)

But that's not my point. What's with all the handwriting? And crossing out of signature blocks? And signing before the trip? And cash advances?