The City of North Battleford has approved institutional investment policy and will put it to work right away.
The City approved the policy at its Monday meeting and also awarded RBC Wealth Management Dominion Securities the contract to provide investment services for a five-year term, running May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2023.
As well, an investment policy bylaw was passed at Monday’s meeting in three readings. The bylaw established guidelines, roles and responsibilities, investment objectives, return expectations, investment manager monitoring and control, investment constraints and diversification requirements, among others.
The final item of business at Monday’s council meeting, after the bylaw passed, was a resolution to transfer $12 million to the RBC reserve account, and allow the investment advisers to work on the investment.
In speaking to reporters, Mayor Ryan Bater outlined how the investment policy, and the investing of funds, will work.
“The City has tax reserves, we have had cash reserves for decades,” said Bater, “which is used to form the capital plan and capital planning of the City government.”
Now, some of those funds are being transferred to the investment advisors to be invested.
“We will now start using those reserves to generate revenue for the City,” Bater said.
“This is an out-of-the-box way to access more funds on an annual basis that the City can use to operate. It’s something new, it’s something we’ve never done before as a municipality. It took several months of careful planning and discussion to develop the policy, and so now it’s a matter of putting it into action.”
There are risks to investing, he acknowledged, but council’s policy was “based on low-risk investments and ensuring a consistent level of return for the taxpayers of North Battleford.”
Council will also be receiving quarterly reports on the returns, while City administration will be monitoring the returns on a monthly basis as well.
