Current Listing of Manatee County's Portfolio Holdings 
The Clerk in his role as Comptroller to the Board of County Commissioners invests the Board’s funds that are excess to its daily operating needs, as an investment portfolio. During fiscal year 2008, the County’s investment portfolio ranged from $640 to $800 million. Although most of this money is obligated to various projects, it is invested to provide interest income that is budgeted as a revenue source.
In August 2008, the County’s Investment portfolio was assigned an AAAf rating for its credit quality, and an S1+ for volatility rating, by Standard and Poor’s (S&P), a nationally recognized statistical rating agency. This highest credit quality rating signifies that the portfolio holdings provide extremely strong protection against losses from credit defaults. The volatility rating signifies that a portfolio possesses extremely low sensitivity to changing market conditions, and a level of risk that is less than or equal to that of a portfolio comprised of the highest quality fixed-income instruments with an average maturity of one year or less. S&P monitors the fund composition monthly to ensure the consistency of the fund’s credit quality and volatility profiles with the assigned ratings.
The Treasury Management staff of Finance invests this money according to Florida Statute and the Manatee County Investment Policy, authorized by county ordinance. The primary goal of this investment policy is to assure safety of principal, liquidity and then yield. This conservative approach provides for investments with minimal risk of loss and that funds are available as needed, while balancing yields against higher risks. Treasury Management invests frequently, diversifying the portfolio to manage quality, concentrations by a single issuer, liquidity, length to maturity and interest yields.
Treasury Management provides to the Board a monthly newsletter, The Crystal Ball, that reports for each month end: the assets in the portfolio, 2 year comparative investment balances, fiscal year to date yield, monthly purchases and maturities, maturity distribution and other market data that is pertinent for the month. Treasury Management staff also take an active role in the monitoring of the county’s daily banking activity. This includes a detailed analysis of the daily deposits, disbursements and other transactions.
Contact Information
E-mail: Suzanne Luchs, CPA, Deputy Director of Finance
Phone Number: (941) 748-1800 Ext. 6101
Fax Number: (941) 741-4011
or
E-mail: Birgitte Runge-Goings
Phone Number: (941) 748-1800 Ext. 6121