Newspaper Page Text
Page 4 November 12, 2023 StarNews www.starnewsgaonline.com
County commission to liquidate General
Obligation Sales Tax Bonds / T-Notes, and
move that S36.5M into a higher interest
earning account: from 0.47% to 4.25%
County’s Registered Investment Advisor to receive management fee of 12% plus 0.07%
Finance Director Alecia Searcy wants written opinion from county’s bond attorney
to show that “We didn’t do anything intentional to avoid rebate”
Searcy stated that,
although the legal risk is
very slim, she wants
the comfort of the Bond
Attorney’s opinion as a
sort of insurance policy.
She said it was a
relatively inexpensive
insurance policy
compared to the amount
of money the county
will be earning on this
investment, to cover
the finance director,
whether it be herself
at the present, or
someone else later on.
story by Janice Daniel
Carroll County Board of Commissioners met
Thursday, November 2, 2023, at 4 p.m. for
their monthly work session.
Finance Director Alecia Searcy gave the
financial report for the three
months of July, August and
September as follows:
Revenue $10,730,183
14.65% of Budget
Expenditures $18,469,225
25.22% of Budget
Searcy also presented a list
of Budget Amendments that
will be listed in the county’s
legal organ for one month
prior to being approved in
the December meeting.
David Sutton, Raymond
James & Associates, Inc.
presented to the board what
Chairman Michelle Morgan
described as a “wonderful
opportunity” for the county
to move some investment
monies and achieve a much
higher rate of return.
A letter will go out to Regions Bank instruct
ing them to liquidate the account known as the
“Carroll County, Georgia General Obligation
Sales Tax Bonds, Bond Series 2021
Construction Fund.” The bank will then be
instructed to invest such liq
uidation proceeds, together
with the T-notes maturing on
August 31, 2023 and
September 30, 2023, into
United States Treasury
Obligations-State and Local
Government Series-Demand
Deposits (DD-SLGS).
This is being done per
advice of Raymond James as
the County’s Registered
Investment Advisor, who
procures the desired invest
ments at the best price high
est yield, and charges fully
disclosed fees billed directly
to the county, at an Asset
Management Fee of 12% for up to $25 million
and .07% for $25 to $50 million.
The agreement will renew January 1st of
each year, and may be terminated by a 30-day
written notice by either party.
Carroll County’s investment amount will be
$36,500,000 in Tax Exempt Bonds at an inter
est rate of 4.25% rather than the 0.47% it is
currently earning, resulting in a significantly
higher interest income on the county’s con
struction fund.
Per Commissioner Clint Chance, this is not
about the county trying to hoard money, but
rather trying to leverage income to offset high
inflation rates, and any portion of the money
can be obtained on a day’s notice.
Commissioner Ernie Reynolds asked how
long does the county have to spend these funds,
and Sutton said the expectation is to spend the
money quickly. But, he added that, as everyone
knows, construction projects come with prob
lems that slow down the progress, and these
problems needs to be documented. The rates
Searcy responded, “Well,
everybody’s said it’s okay,
but nobody’s put it in
writing .. And in reality,
if the IRS comes back,
they’ll probably come
back after my tenure as
the finance director here..
. and if there ever is a
problem .. .pull it out and
say, hey, we got an
opinion on this. We didn’t
do anything intentional
to avoid rebate.”
may change daily on these DD-SLGS Bonds;
however the county is expected to earn about
$3.1 million in interest, which is a $2.8 million
increase over the money market rate the Bonds
were previously invested in.
When asked if all commis
sioners were okay with putting
this item on a Consent Agenda,
Searcy informed the board that
she would like to have a written
opinion from the County’s
Bond Attorney, who has already
told County Attorney Stacey
Blackmon that he will be will
ing to provide and opinion at a
fee of $3,500. Searcy stated
that, although the legal risk is
very slim, she wants the com
fort of the Bond Attorney’s
opinion as a sort of insurance
policy. She said it was a rela
tively inexpensive insurance
policy compared to the amount
of money the county will be
earning on this investment, to
cover the finance director,
whether it be herself at the pre
sent, or someone else later on.
When Commissioner Reynolds stated this
was a waste of money due to the fact Raymond
James said that 14 or more bond attorneys have
already given their blessing to other munici
palities who have made this
investment, Searcy responded,
“Well, everybody’s said it’s
okay, but nobody’s put it in
writing, so I’d just like to have
that security of knowing that I
have something in writing to
fall back on. And in reality, if
the IRS comes back, they’ll
probably come back after my
tenure as the finance director
here, and I won’t have to deal
with it, but I think it’s my due
diligence as the finance director
that I should ask for that, have
it in the file, and if there ever is
a problem, the next person
down the line can pull it out
and say, hey, we got an opinion on this. We did
n’t do anything intentional to avoid rebate.”
Commissioner Chance said he feels the
Bond Attorney letter is needed, especially in
relation to the amount of money the county will
be earning.
Next item of business came from the Fire
Chief who asked for Motorola Radios for fire
trucks arriving in February and others through
out 2024, in an amount of $41,486.58 to come
from SPLOST funds. It was agreed to put this
on the Consent Agenda.
Public Works Director Danny Yates advised
the Board that after demolition of the old
administration building, some costs had been
discovered that were considerably higher than
what had been expected. Fie informed the
Board that $65,000 could be saved by the
doing the additional work in-house, and this
was also put on the Consent Agenda.
All other items of business will be taken up
at the Tuesday, November 7th regular meeting,
so the work session was adjourned.
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Lt-4
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