R-2011-05 amending the City of La Porte Investment Policy

Browse Search

LIQUIDITY The City's investment portfolio will remain sufficiently liquid to enable the City to meet operating requirements that might be reasonably anticipated. Liquidity shall be achieved by matching investment maturities with forecasted cash flow requirements and by investing in securities with active secondary markets. Because all possible cash demands cannot be anticipated, a portion of the portfolio will be invested in shares of money market mutual funds or local government investment pools that offer same day liquidity. PUBLIC TRUST All participants in the investment process shall seek to act responsibly as custodians of the public trust. Investment Officials shall avoid any transaction that might impair public confidence in the City's ability to govern effectively. The governing body recognizes that in a diversified portfolio, occasional measured losses due to market volatility are inevitable, and must be considered within the context of the overall portfolio's investment return, provided that adequate diversification has been implemented. YIELD (Optimization of Interest Earnings) The City's cash management portfolio shall be designed with the objective of regularly meeting or exceeding the average rate of return on U.S. Treasury Bills at a maturity level comparable to the City's weighted average maturity in days. The investment program shall seek to augment returns above this threshold consistent with risk limitations identified herein and prudent investment principles. IV. RESPONSIBILITY AND CONTROL Oversight Responsibility for the investment activity of the City of La Porte shall rest with the Fiscal Affairs Committee and the City Manager. DELEGATION Management responsibility for the investment program is hereby delegated to the Director of Finance, who shall establish written procedures for the operation of the investment program, consistent with this investment policy. Such procedures shall include explicit delegation of authority to persons responsible for investment transactions. SUBORDINATES All persons involved in investment activities will be referred to as "Investment Officers." No person shall engage in an investment transaction except as provided under the terms of this policy and the procedures established by the Director of Finance. The Director of Finance shall be responsible for all transactions undertaken, and shall establish a system of controls to regulate the activities of Subordinate Investment Officers. All investment officers, including the Director of Finance, will demonstrate competence in the execution of the city's investments. All Investment Officers will insure compliance with the investment program with ongoing training and evaluation by management. PRUDENCE Investments shall be made with the exercise of due care, which persons of prudence, discretion and intelligence exercise in the management of their own affairs, not for speculation but for investment considering the probable safety of their own capital as well as the probable income to be derived. Investment Officers acting in accordance with written procedures and this investment policy and exercising due diligence shall be relieved of personal responsibility for an individual security's credit risk or market price changes, provided deviations from expectations are reported in a timely fashion and the liquidity and the sale of securities are carried out in accordance with the terms of this policy. IMDEMNIFICATION The Director of Finance and the Investment Officer, acting in accordance with written procedures and exercising due diligence, shall not be held personally responsible for 2