Cochise County treasurer outlines portfolio strategy, liquidity and callable-security risks

Cochise County Treasurer Catherine Trewick and her investment adviser, Michael Bell of Stifel, briefed the Board of Supervisors at a work session on the county's investment portfolio, its composition and how staff manage liquidity and call risk. The presentation, given during a work session where public comment was not taken pursuant to ARS 38-431.02(H), described a laddered portfolio of federal-agency debentures, a program of rolling maturities and tools the treasurer uses to meet operational cash needs.

Why it matters: Trewick told the board the county pools money from many local public entities and invests it to preserve principal and maintain liquidity while earning yield. That pool of investable funds supports daily county operations and special districts; board members raised a separate, informal idea about borrowing from county-held funds to finance a proposed jail project, which the treasurer said would raise legal and operational questions and is not a formal proposal.

Trewick and Bell said the portfolio is managed to keep maturities distributed across years so that cash becomes available regularly. Michael Bell said the portfolio is "about as perfectly laddered as any time we've been in…