The Rice County Board of commissioners meeting as a Committee of the Whole received an investment report for 2019.  In a sign of the times commissioners were pleased with a report that found an average return of 3 percent on the county's investments.

Former County Auditor/Treasurer Fran Windschitl works with investments for the county because he has been successful in growing the county's dollars over the years.  Windschitl told commissioners they have changed their strategy because these days there are no 6 and 7 percent interest rates seen a decade ago.

"You can see we have a lot of short term investments.  So instead of a laddered strategy we're going to have kind of a bar bell strategy,"Windschitl said, adding..."You have a lot of investments in longer terms and short terms and not much in the middle."

"I think overall our portfolio will have a better yield as a result of that strategy."  The finance report showed a majority of dollars were invested in local bank Certificates of Deposit.

Half of those banks are local he said.  The largest investment with the State Bank of Faribault is just over 9.5 million dollars thanks to a negotiated rate.

Windschitl reported in 2019 the county had a favorable overall average return of about 3 percent on their investments.

He said interest earnings exceeded the budget forecast by $476,000 and, "we will exceed budget again next year, almost for certain by at least a couple hundred thousand dollars."

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