Take It To The Bank: City of Bloomsdale Looks To Invest Surplus Funds In CD

The Bloomsdale Board of Aldermen last week discussed how to better invest surplus funds, discussed how the city can best cooperate with the 2020 census and heard a report on a recent forum on medical marijuana’s legal impact on municipalities.

Those were among the topics at the board’s monthly meeting on August 13.

NO HIGH RATES ARE AVAILABLE

Everyone agreed there is no safe place to invest any of the city’s $500,000 general fund surplus and get a high percentage yield.

It was agreed, though, that part of the fund should be invested in a way to earn more than it is in a bank account.

Mayor Paul Monia said the city can afford to tie some of the fund up in an investment for the time being.

“We don’t really have anything [expense-wise] in the up and coming for the general [fund], and we have enough in the others to cover things,” Monia said.

“Even in bonds and stuff like that, the interest rate probably isn’t humongous,” Ward 1 Alderwoman Monica Rozier said, “but it’s a little more secure.”

City clerk Lynnette Randoll said the $500,000 fund made only $98.35 in interest last month.

Monia and the aldermen agreed sewer projects and other expenses will be covered by other funds, leaving the general fund balance available for partial investment.

Rozier recommended separating it into multiple certificates of deposit. …

“I personally could only see it going to a secure site,” Monia said. “I couldn’t see putting any risk to it whatsoever.”

It was pointed out that doing so, such as investing in stocks, would be illegal anyway, since it involves tax dollars.

Ward 2 Alderman Chris “Sappy” Basler made a motion to invest in two $100,000 CDs with Bloomsdale Bank, with an option of investing in two more at $100,000 apiece later, if the situation allows it. The motion was seconded and passed without further discussion.

See complete story in the August 21 edition of the Herald.