Agoura Hills considers more aggressive investments stategies

By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

The Agoura Hills City Council debated whether the city should pursue more aggressive investment strategies with its budget reserves.

In the past, Agoura Hills has relied on a conservative investment strategy, but finance officials believe opportunities exist to obtain a higher yield on city investments.

Staff members said that in the past they were apprehensive about tying funds to higher yielding investments because liquidity was needed to pay for the Kanan Road interchange work.

City Manager Greg Ramirez said his staff now feels more comfortable with the longer investments because of Congressman Henry Waxman’s recent pledge of $5 million for local public works projects.

Lily Ruff, city treasurer, suggested an investment in U.S. treasury bills.

"We’ve always erred on the side of caution," Kuperberg said. He called for guidelines, including a specific amount of money invested in a specific amount of time.

"I’m not sure if it should be delegated to two members of the council," Kuperberg said of shifting the investment decisions to the finance committee. "The decision should be approved by the full council," he said.

Ruff explained that most municipalities delegate investments to one or two people. "I’ve never known a whole city council to approve (which financial instruments are to be used)," Ruff said.

Investment decisions sometimes must be made quickly and waiting for council approval could result in lost opportunity, she said.

According to Kuperberg, "Sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing," and called for no more than a three-year investment commitment and a full council decision on how much should be invested. "

Ruff said that the $5 million represented less than 20 percent of the city’s portfolio. Currently, the city invests in the Local Agency Investment Fund, a state fund that is considered the most conservative approach in city investments.

Councilmembers Denis Weber and John Edelston serve on the city finance committee along with staff members Ramirez and Georgette Holt, finance officer.