Bernalillo County board approves quarterly investment strategy; treasurer seeks help filling six vacancies

Bernalillo County Board of Finance on May 27 approved the county's quarterly investment strategy and heard the county treasurer outline staffing needs in the treasurer's office.

County Treasurer Eichenberg told the board his office collects roughly 484,000 property tax payments totaling about $907,000,000 and that the county's investment program is the third-largest general-fund revenue source; the treasurer said the office expects about $31,800,000 in investment income for the fiscal year, roughly $19 million to $20 million of which will revert to the general fund.

The board's action matters because those investment returns are a material revenue source for county operations and because recent drawdowns of one-time American Rescue Plan Act funds have reduced investable cash, affecting portfolio sizing and liquidity.

Deputy Treasurer Ryan Travalstead reviewed the office's guiding principles of "safety, liquidity and yield," reporting that portfolio par value was about $719,800,000 as of March and that, after stripping out property-tax distributions for other entities, Bernalillo County's cash on hand was roughly $710,000,000 in March. Travalstead told commissioners the office projects $24,300,000 in investment income year-to-date and expects to reach about $31,800,000 for the fiscal year. He said property-tax collections had reached roughly 95.5% after the May cycle.

Frank McDonald of Government Portfolio Advisors summarized portfolio strategy. The board was told the county sold approximately $61,000,000 of supranational holdings on April 9 for a gain of $477,000 and that the proposed tactical change is to reduce the supranational allocation from roughly 10%--15% down to 0% for the coming quarter. McDonald said the core portfolio duration was about 2.4 years versus a benchmark of 2.5 years and that the longer-maturity portion (5'10 years) remains a small share currently (about 8% of the portfolio).

Both Travalstead and McDonald said the sale was driven primarily by cash needs as ARPA-funded balances are being spent down and secondarily by political uncertainty affecting some supranational issuers. Travalstead warned commissioners that the county's core portfolio balance of about $500,000,000 could decline to roughly $350,000,000 to $400,000,000 over the next year to 18 months as ARPA balances are drawn down.

Travalstead also reviewed a collateral-monitoring item: one Wells Fargo account had a collateral shortfall of about $800,000 on March 31 because an ACH arrived after markets closed; that deficiency was corrected on April 1. He described daily reviews of pledged collateral for deposits that exceed FDIC insurance limits.

Separately, Treasurer Eichenberg asked the board for help reducing hiring delays in his office. He said the office is "six employees short," that redundancy is needed for internal controls, and that hiring is hampered by broad HR salary ranges (he described an example midpoint of $55,000 within ranges from about $40,000 to $80,000). He said the treasurer's office has contracted an independent metric-analysis group to detail actual job duties and expected compensation; results are expected in July and the treasurer asked the commission to consider adjustments after that review.

Chair Olivas moved to approve the 11/12/2024 Board of Finance minutes earlier in the meeting; that motion passed on a 4-0 roll-call vote. Later Chair Olivas moved that the board "give advice and consent to the proposed quarterly investment strategy as outlined in the Board of Finance report." The motion received a second from the vice chair and passed on a 4-0 voice vote (Commissioner Benson was not present online for the votes).

The board indicated it would follow up with the county manager and the treasurer after the treasurer's staffing study is complete to consider countywide recruitment and pay issues. The board set its next meeting for Aug. 19, 2025, at 4 p.m. in the same chambers.

Less critical details: Travalstead described the county's liquidity buckets (highly liquid, cash-matched for payroll and debt service, and the actively managed core), noted that grocery/gross-receipts-tax receipts through May were roughly $7,700,000 (about 3%) higher than the prior fiscal year through the same period, and said the treasurer's office routinely monitors maturities to match projected outflows.