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Board adopts revised county investment policy; staff removes stock and crypto options and updates collateral and maturity language
Summary
Commissioners adopted a revised investment policy that clarifies roles, removes certain investment types and procedural language, and adds collateral language; staff said the county has not invested in stocks and sought to align practice with standard policy.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on June 17 adopted an updated county investment policy that refines language on roles, permitted investments and internal controls.
County staff reviewed substantive edits to the policy, including replacing the term "securities" with the broader "investments," removing references to an investment officer (the office does not exist), and clarifying employee roles and delegation. Staff removed repetitive five-year limits in individual investment-type descriptions and consolidated maturity limits under a single maximum-maturity section.
The revised policy explicitly prohibits investments in stocks and cryptocurrency, and it removes banker's acceptances and the county's prior internal percentage-per-issuer limit that had appeared in multiple sections. Staff also removed a prior market-benchmark performance standard and added a section clarifying collateralization requirements.
During discussion, commissioners asked whether the prohibition on stock investments reflected prevailing county practice and whether the changes would affect bond ratings. Staff said the county historically had not invested in stocks and that updated policy language, and strong written policies generally receive positive comments from rating agencies. A motion to adopt the revised investment policy passed with a second and an affirmative vote.
