Miami’s Shiny Portfolio

Standard & Poor’s assigned a AAA rating to Miami-Dade County’s investment portfolio, a county finance official reported last week. The portfolio also received an S1 volatility rating for its low sensitivity to changing market conditions. The portfolio’s assets totaled about $4.5 billion as of Sept. 30.

The ratings “should provide a level of comfort to the public that we are managing assets in a conservative manner to ensure the safety of our funds,” said Miaimi-Dade finance director Carter Hammer.

The county’s holdings are typically comprised of highly rated securities such as U.S. Treasury bonds, federal agency and instrumentality debt, highly rated money market funds, short-term money market instruments, and deposits with qualified public depositories.

The portfolio uses the 180-day Treasury bill as its benchmark and strives to maintain a weighted average maturity of one year or less.

“The high marks come during a particularly difficult economic time. During the last several years, the investment portfolio of many municipalities suffered from the financial crisis,” the county said in a release. “However, Miami-Dade County was able to continue to diversify its assets, generate interest income above its benchmark, and avoid losses.”

The primary objectives of the investment policy are to provide safety of ­principal, liquidity of funds, and maximization of investment income for its assets.

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