Dollars and sense

At the August 6 Saratoga Town Council meeting, members of the governing body learned about a potential new investment vehicle for the Town.

Troy Hunsucker from Wyoming CLASS, an investment solution for public funds, gave a presentation on a local government investment pool which gives an opportunity for a higher rate of return on town investments.

Municipalities utilize investment opportunities to maximize a rate of return on varying funds while still under the umbrella of all state and federal laws.

According to Treasurer Corina Daley, the town has fifteen investment funds with WyoSTAR: Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) and two investment funds with Wyoming Government Investment Fund (WGIF). The annualized yield on these investment vehicles from their respective websites are currently 4.57% (WyoSTAR) and 5.15% (WGIF).

Hunsucker said Wyoming CLASS currently has a rate of return of 5.27% for local governments with an emphasis on safety, liquidity, convenience, flexibility and competitive returns. Hunsucker said they service one hundred communities from twenty-three counties in Wyoming.

Carbon County Treasurer Lindsey West converted some of the county's investment vehicles to Wyoming CLASS but still utilizes WyoSTAR for some of the investments.

"The difference in yields was the biggest contributing factor in moving some county holdings to this pool (Wyoming CLASS)", said West.

West encouraged each individual town to do research and ask questions of the varying investment vehicles in order to make decisions on "their specific situations".

Another unnamed investment company has approached the Town to give a presentation at a later council meeting. Mayor Chuck Davis and the council would like to hold a workshop to further investigate all of the investment opportunities.

The mayor and council will delay making a decision on moving funds until more research and discussions are considered. The next Saratoga council meeting will be August 20 at 6 p.m. at Saratoga Town Hall.