St. Mary’s County OPEB trustees approve Q4 investment report, adopt allocation change and approve JPMorgan proxy

County Administrator David Weiskopf convened the St. Mary’s County Government Retirement Benefit Trust Committee on Feb. 28, 2025, for a presentation from Marquette Associates and several votes on investment policy and rebalancing.

Marquette Associates’ Mr. Wing presented the fourth‑quarter 2024 investment performance report, describing the macro backdrop and how it affected the trust. Wing said economic activity “in Q4 did decelerate … coming in at about 2.3%,” and he warned that inflation measures and policy sequencing from Washington could shift short‑term rate expectations. He told trustees the trust ended the calendar year with a market value near $122.5 million and a quarterly decline of about 1.3%, slightly ahead of its policy index, which was down about 1.4%.

The presentation reviewed performance by asset class and manager. Wing noted U.S. equities posted a modest gain in Q4 while non‑U.S. and emerging markets lagged, and that most active equity managers underperformed because the market’s gains were concentrated in a handful of very large stocks. He said the fixed‑income sleeve outperformed modestly due to short‑duration exposure from one manager, and that infrastructure (IFM) produced a positive…