Okaloosa County BOCC — October 18, 2016 — County Investment Policy final

INVESTMENT POLICY OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS I. SCOPE This Investment Policy of the Board of County Commissioners applies to all monetary assets of the government of Okaloosa County with the following exceptions: (1) deferred compensation, which is administered by a separate insurance carrier; (2) investments administered by third parties governed by bond resolutions; and (3) funds held by other agencies (i.e., Tax Collector, State of Florida) during collection periods which are governed by the agencies' investment policies. All monetary assets of the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners which are recorded to the General Fund, Special Revenue Funds, Capital Project Funds, Debt Service Funds, Enterprise Funds, Internal Service Funds, Trust and Agency Funds, and other funds that exist or may be created from time to time shall be administered in accordance with the provisions of this Policy. Investment income earned on the monetary assets of Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners shall be used for the same purposes and projects as the assets upon which the investment income was earned. II. INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES The following investment objectives will be applied in the management of the Board of County Commissioners' monetary assets: A. Safety of principal is the foremost objective of the government of Okaloosa County. Each investment transaction shall seek to first ensure that capital losses are avoided, whether they be from security defaults or erosion of market value. Purchases and sales shall be made for investment purposes and not speculation. B. The investment portfolio will remain sufficiently liquid to enable the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners to meet operating requirements and other needs which may be reasonably anticipated. C. In investing public funds, the Clerk to the Board will strive to maximize the return on the portfolio and to preserve the purchasing power but will avoid assuming unreasonable investment risks. A minimum standard for the overall portfolio rate of return is to exceed the current SBA rate for short term investments (one to twelve months), and to exceed the bond equivalent yield of the current one-year Treasury Bill for investments with a maturity beyond one year. 1  D. The Clerk to the Board will employ mechanisms to control risks and diversify its investments regarding specific security types or individual financial institutions. E. Investment officials shall recognize that the investment portfolio is subject to public review and evaluation. The overall program shall be designed and managed with a degree of professionalism worthy of the public trust. The governing body, however, recognizes that, in a diversified portfolio, occasionally measured losses are inevitable and must be considered within the context of the overall portfolio's investment return, provided adequate diversification has been implemented. III. PRUDENCE The standard of prudence to be used by investment officials shall be the "prudent person" and shall be applied in the context of managing an overall portfolio consisting of public funds. Investment officers acting in accordance with written procedures 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 appropriate action is taken to control adverse developments. The “prudent person” standard is herewith understood to mean the following: Investment shall be made with judgment and care, under circumstances then prevailing, 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