City finance staff presented the city’s second‑quarter 2025 investment report to the Kansas City Council Committee of the Whole on Sept. 2, outlining current portfolio balances, yields and a temporary change in investment strategy tied to ongoing capital spending. Joe Bartleme, the presenter, said the report had been reviewed by the Investment Advisory Board on Aug. 28.

The report showed cash on deposit earning a 4.5% earnings credit and a bank cash balance of $4,500,000. The short‑term portfolio — held in the Washington State Local Government Investment Pool — was yielding about 4.383% with a balance of $121,400,000. The city’s long‑term portfolio had an average yield of about 3.47%, a market value of approximately $260,100,000 and a book value near $259,600,000.

Bartleme said policy compliance checks show the portfolio is within the city’s investment policy and remains diversified. “Supernationals are bonds issued usually by multiple governments and ... they’re high yielding and considered a very safe investment,” Bartleme said when explaining one of the allocation categories.

Why it matters: the city’s earnings on short‑term balances help offset bank fees, and strong yields reduce pressure on operating revenues while the city funds large projects. Bartleme told the council that through 2024 the city had been incrementally increasing the long‑term portfolio but that in 2025 staff paused that incremental buildup while spending fund balance on major projects and ARPA allocations, including amounts for the Key Hawk project and the ASB building.

Council members asked clarifying questions about portfolio allocation and what items in the pie chart represented; Bartleme pointed to U.S. Treasuries as the single largest holding in the long‑term portfolio and noted corporate bonds were another significant component. He described laddered maturities out to five years that allow the city to reinvest or use maturing securities for cash flow needs.

No formal action was taken on the report.