Treasurer's office holding investment workshops for government entities
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Treasurer's office holding investment workshops for government entities

Date: September 23, 2008
By: Chris Dunn
State Capitol Bureau

JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman announced Wednesday a series of workshops to advise local governments on how to protect their funds in light of the financial crises on Wall Street.

The workshops will highlight the investment policies enacted by treasurer's office, as well as the strategies that government entities can use to ensure the security of taxpayers' money.

"We're getting a lot of inquiries from governmental entities throughout the state," Steelman said. "They've been calling the office, just wanting to know our recommendations on what should go into an investment portfolio, and how we avoided those problems that we see in Wall Street today. That's why we're having those workshops, because people are calling and asking for some help."

Investment policies enacted by Steelman's office do not allow the state to invest in brokerage firms, banks and insurance companies. In a previous statement, an official from the treasurer's office had said this policy has helped prevent the Missouri state economy from being impacted by the turmoil on Wall Street.

"We don't have any exposure to any of the financial companies that have been in the news in the past month, and the portfolio is not at risk in any way," said Mark Mathers, director of investments in Steelman's office, in a previous Missouri Digital News article.

The treasurer's office plans to host three workshops. The first is scheduled for Oct. 7, 2008, with representatives from the Missouri Association of School Administrators and, potentially, the Missouri Association of School Business Officials in attendance.
 
Other government associations expected to be present at the other workshops are the Missouri Municipal League and the Government Finance Officers Association of Missouri.

Steelman's office has already hosted a conference with the Missouri County Treasurers Association, which is similar to the workshops that will be held later this year.

"Some of [these associations] might already have those kinds of [policies] in place already," Steelman said. "But we were getting enough phone calls that we thought it might be helpful for the public to go through those kinds of policies that we put in place to ensure the protection of taxpayers' money."