Recession? What recession?
That seems to be the mindset in the city treasurer's office. While
other investors found fiscal year 2000-2001 a bear to go through,
Glendale was positively bullish about its returns.
The city's investment portfolio finished the year at $412 million,
showing a 6.23% return. Not bad, especially when you consider the return
was only 5.6% in the previous year.
That's $22.6 million in earnings, making City Treasurer Ronald Borucki
a good man to have on your side these days. As the bottom was falling out
of the tech market, as the state and federal governments watched their
hefty surpluses wane and founder, Borucki was working his mojo to keep
Glendale's investments in the black. Good show, Ron.
Borucki credited the positive performance on legal controls placed on
municipalities. Cities like Glendale cannot play the stock market -- no
high-risk investments here. Instead, we're limited to the bond market.
We'll be seeing none of the phenomenal returns many dot.com investors saw
in the late '90s, but then again, a lot of those dot.coms aren't around
any longer.
True to fiscally conservative form, Borucki described his reaction to
the 6.23% return with a modest, "We're kind of pleased." Well, we are,
too.
There's a lesson to be learned here -- a lesson about the need to be
ultra-careful with the nest egg and about the rewards such prudence can
reap. It's a lesson one wishes Orange County had bothered to learn back
in the '80s, prior to its bankruptcy. It's a lesson anyone who's ever
played the market could stand to learn.
City Treasurer Ronald Borucki is making the city some money at a time
when the green stuff seems to be slipping through everyone else's
fingers. We're sure a lot of other city officials worked hard to make
this possible, and they deserve credit, too.
It was absolutely delightful to be able to publish some positive
financial news for a change. Here's to more such news in the near future.
