Laserfiche WebLink
Investments: <br />The City has seen interest rates continue to trend lower as higher yielding bonds are called by their <br />issuers. Investment income for 2011 is $232,423 compared with $311,331 for the same period in <br />2010. Our portfolio for June 30, 2011 was 30,384,194 compared with $30,040,358 for 2010. I <br />have attached the June 30th cash balance and investment statements for your review. <br /> <br />The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has maintained the current discount rate at 0% - <br />.25%. The Federal Reserve cannot affect interest rates by lowering the discount rate so they have <br />used various bond buying programs (QE1, QE2), which has artificially lowered rates on those <br />securities. The yield curve has steepened on the long-term side. The state of the bond market <br />would indicate that recovery is going to be slow and lengthy. Treasury bills are presently providing <br />the following rates-of-return: <br /> <br />Treasury Securities <br />2011 <br /> <br />2010 <br /> 2 year .300 .625 <br /> 5 year 1.190 1.750 <br />10 year 2.550 2.625 <br />Cert. of Deposit <br /> 1 year .250 .400 <br /> <br />Inflation in the next 12 to 18 months does not seem to be a concern for the FOMC. State <br />unemployment for June was 6.7% compared to national unemployment of 9.2%. The job market <br />continues to be slow to recover and housing has not started to rebound. <br /> <br />FINANCE DEPARTMENT OPERATIONS: <br /> <br />Second quarter: <br />The annual financial audit and preparation of the 2010 comprehensive annual financial report <br />consumes a lot of staff time during the second quarter. Staff also began and completed work on <br />the five year financial plan and began work on the 2012 budget. <br /> <br />Third and fourth quarters: <br />The third and fourth quarters will be dominated with budget related work which will culminate with a <br />truth-in-taxation hearing and adoption of the 2012 budget and tax levy in December. The third <br />quarter will also include certifying assessments for delinquent utilities, diseased trees, abatements <br />and other charges due to the City. Work on insurance policy renewal occurs in the fourth quarter. <br /> <br />Respectfully Submitted, <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Mark Beer