State treasurer outlines office activities: large cash holdings, pension gains, unclaimed-property push

Ashlyn Doyon, director of policy in the Vermont Office of the State Treasurer, told the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on Jan. 16 that the office is managing a substantially larger cash portfolio, is seeing improved pension funding after recent reforms, and has expanded efforts to return unclaimed property to Vermonters.

Doyon said the treasurer’s office now manages roughly $2 billion on an average day in short-term cash holdings — up from about $300 million when she joined seven years ago — and that fiscal 2024 generated about $109 million in interest income from those holdings. "We have been working hard to invest that money that we're holding in short term cash in liquid safe vehicles, but also ones that are giving us a rate of return," she said.

The rise in short-term balances reflects higher interest rates and federal funds flowing into the state. The office reported roughly $8 billion in cash inflows and outflows over a year, an amount Doyon said is “about the size of your budget.” She also noted the office manages trust investment accounts such as tobacco settlement funds and prefunded other postemployment benefits (OPEB) trusts — about $300 million currently — which produced roughly $32 million in OPEB interest income in fiscal 2024.

On retirement plans, Doyon credited changes from Act 114 of 2022 and earlier task-force work with…