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DISCUSSION <br /> Staff is recommending an initial investment of$28 million that is comprised of$6.7 <br /> million which is the City's FY 2018/19 PERS Normal Cost contribution (FY 2018/19 <br /> PERS Contribution) and $21.3 million in Retiree Medical Reserve Funds and FY <br /> 2017/18 year-end surplus that was ear marked to prefund pension liabilities. <br /> PARS Section 115 Trust program has five investment portfolios: Capital Appreciation, <br /> Balanced, Moderate, Moderately Conservative, and Conservative. Each portfolio has <br /> different risk profiles and different amounts invested in equities and other instruments. <br /> The Capital Appreciation portfolio has 75 percent invested in equities while the <br /> Conservative portfolio has 25 percent invested in equities. The amount of equities in an <br /> investment portfolio increases risk and volatility. Conversely, as the amount of equities <br /> in an investment portfolio decreases, risk and volatility decreases. With that in mind, <br /> staff recommends the following investment strategies: <br /> Annual Normal Pension Contributions <br /> Invest the City's FY 2018/19 PERS Contribution of $6.7 million in the PARS <br /> Conservative passive portfolio. Rather than withdraw the principle after one year, staff <br /> proposes to keep it in the PARS account for up to three years with annual reviews to <br /> determine whether the City's cash flow requires a withdrawal. The Conservative passive <br /> portfolio earned 3.39 percent annualized over five years and 3.75 percent annualized <br /> over ten years, gross of fees. <br /> Initial $21.3 Million Investment <br /> Staff recommends investing the $21.3 million initial investment in a custom portfolio that <br /> comprises 70 percent equities and 30 percent fixed income2. This is between the PARS <br /> Balanced and Capital Appreciation portfolios. The mid-point 5-year annualized returns <br /> for those two portfolios is 9.3 percent gross of fees. The ten year annualized return for <br /> the Balanced active portfolio is 5.74 percent gross of fees. PARS created the Capital <br /> Appreciation portfolio five years ago so there isn't a ten year investment return history. <br /> The rationale for recommending this option includes: <br /> • Staff anticipates not drawing on this fund for at least ten years. Thus, the City will <br /> not require short term liquidity that would lead to investing in a more conservative <br /> portfolio. In other words, the City's funds can stay in the account during market <br /> downturns and not lose its principal since the markets have historically <br /> rebounded after downturns. <br /> • The $21.3 million initial investment will be part of the City's existing $200 million <br /> investment portfolio. Investing 70 percent of the $21.3 million in equities will <br /> result in approximately $15 million in equities which means 7.5 percent of the <br /> City's investments would be in higher risk investments. The remaining 92.5 <br /> percent of the City's investment portfolio will remain in conservative fixed income <br /> investments. <br /> Fixed income investments include high grade securities i.e. BBB+ or higher. <br /> Page 3 of 4 <br />