Jacksonville Beach pension trustees debate allowing ‘‘alternative assets’’; administration resists ordinance change

Jacksonville Beach retirement trustees reviewed an investment performance report and a set of scenarios that would allow the pension plans to add ‘‘alternative assets’’ such as private direct lending, real estate and infrastructure, but the city administration opposed changing the city ordinance and the board declined to move immediately.

The meeting featured a long presentation of market results and modelled portfolio changes by the plan’s investment presenter. The presenter said the fund’s market value outperformed the assumed rate — listing a hypothetical assumed-trust value of $95,600,000 versus an actual figure of $118,600,000 — and reviewed how shifts into alternatives, infrastructure or higher equity caps would change projected returns, standard deviation and Sharpe ratios. The presenter warned closed-end alternative vehicles can lock capital for five to 10 years, creating liquidity risks if a later ordinance change were to prohibit the investment.

Trustee reporting of a legal review played a central role in the…