NEW BUSINESS  12.

COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM

HISTORY:

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recommends as a best practice that all governments establish a comprehensive written investment policy, which should be adopted by the governing body.

The City has adopted and maintained an Investment Policy for over 23 years.  The Investment Policy of the City of Miami Beach defines the parameters within which funds are managed. The policy formalizes the framework for the City’s investment activities that must be exercised to ensure effective and judicious fiscal and investment management of the City’s funds. The guidelines are intended to allow the investment authorized officers to function properly within the parameters of responsibility and authority, yet specific enough to adequately safeguard the investment assets.

On November 18, 1987, the City passed and adopted Ordinance No. 87-2588 which amended the Code of the City of Miami Beach by creating chapter 18A entitled “Investment of Surplus Funds.” This Chapter authorized the City to invest and reinvest any surplus public funds in such investments as US Government obligations, banker’s acceptances, certificates of deposits, obligations issued by any State or Territory of the United States, and other types of investment instruments.

On September 16, 1992, the City amended Ordinance No. 87-2588 by passing and adopting Ordinance No. 92-2793 which added commercial paper as another allowable investment.

The City again amended chapter 18A on March 15, 1997 by passing and adopting Ordinance No. 97-3074 which added corporate notes and bonds, money market funds, mortgage backed securities, external managed investment funds to the list of allowable investments.

The City’s investment policy and procedures were officially adopted in writing on September 27, 1995 with the passage of Resolution No. 95-21726. This was a result of the passing of Chapter 218.415 of the Florida Statutes the required the adoption of a formal.

On March 5, 1997 the City passed and adopted resolution No. 97-22315 which adopted the percentages of the City’s funds which may be invested in each investment category.

On July 11, 2007 the City adopted and passed resolution No. 2007-26602 which incorporated the State of Florida’s “Protecting Florida’s Investment Act” the City’s investment policy. This act prohibited the investment of public funds in companies with active business operations in Sudan or Iran, or as listed by the State Board of Administration (SBA) on a quarterly basis.

On January 11, 2012 the City adopted and passed Resolution No. 2012-27816 which added Bonds issued by the State of Israel as an authorized investment. The City also replaced its Investment Committee with language permitting a full time Investment Advisor to serve the City as a fiduciary of the City’s investments by refining the City’s investment strategies and ensuring the fiscally responsible and prudent investment of all City funds. This amendment also updated permitted investments and percentages to reflect what is permitted in Chapter 218.415.

The last amendment to the investment policy was Resolution No. 2018-30482 which the City passed and adopted on September 12, 2018. This amendment was to prohibit the investment of the Public Funds managed by the City in any securities, stocks, or bonds issued by the Government of Venezuela or by any company that is majority-owned by the companies doing business in or with the Government of Venezuela, or any of its agencies or instrumentalities, in violation of Federal law.

ANALYSIS:

GFOA recommends as a best practice that an investment policy should be reviewed and updated periodically.  Although the City’s Investment Policy has been amended in the past, numerous changes are now recommended to make the policy current.  The City finance team has worked closely with our Investment Advisor, Public Trust Advisors, to comprehensively update the City’s Investment Policy. The proposed policy would allow us to continue to maintain a high quality, diversified portfolio as well as update the language and terminology to conform the policy to current government industry best practices.  Summary of changes and detail of proposed changes to securities are attached for your review in Attachment 1 and 2.

In addition, staff desires to have the City’s Investment Program reviewed and rated by Standard and Poor’s to continually verify the proper safety, liquidity and diversification objectives are being adhered to.

Finally, staff desires to have the City’s investment policy reviewed and certified by the Association of Public Treasurers (APT). The benefit of having the policy certified by APT is the trust and confidence that the City of Miami Beach and the public that it serves receives from knowing that we not only have taken the time to update and improve the Investment Policy, but we have taken the extra professional step of having the APT review and certify that our policy is a professionally accepted policy.

Any additional input from the review of the Finance Citywide Project Committee will be incorporated into the updated Investment Policy document to be included in the agenda item for the December 14, 2018 Commission meeting.

CONCLUSION:

The City staff desires to have the City's Investment Policy updated, rated by Standard and Poors, and Certified by the Association of Public Treasurers. The City staff is requesting the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee to refer to the City Commission for approval.