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County commission creates investment committee

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Doña Ana County Treasurer Jim Schoonover will now have to work with an investment committee created Tuesday by the board of commissioners. The seven-member committee is similar to the state investment council. Its members will include Schoonover, Manager Brian Haines and members of the public. The commission also voted to lower the percentage of county funds that must be insured by banks wanting to do business with the county. Schoonover convinced commissioners earlier this year to change the number from 50 percent to 102 percent by telling them it was required by the state. Continue Reading

BREAKING NEWS: It appears county investment advisor, not treasurer, is to blame for lost money

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It appears that Doña Ana County’s investment adviser, not the treasurer, is going to have to answer some tough questions about lost public money. In question are two $10 million wire transfers of county money made on April 21 and May 12, both Fridays. Neither was invested until the following Monday, and the county lost some $10,000 in interest because of that. Robert Burpo, a former state representative from Albuquerque, told the county commission during a tough grilling on Tuesday that, had his company, LPL investments, received the money before 1 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on both Fridays, he would have been able to invest it in time for it to earn interest during the weekend. He said repeatedly he did not know where the money was for those weekends, but said he had not received it in time to invest it. Continue Reading

County treasurer and manager need to put aside differences and work together

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Tuesday’s presentation by Doña Ana County Treasurer Jim Schoonover to the commission about the county’s investments felt more like a Congressional impeachment hearing. Schoonover and the county’s contract investment advisor, former State Rep. Robert Burpo, answered tough questions from the commission for almost two hours about how the county’s money is invested and how Schoonover hired Burpo. Commissioners expressed three concerns: ● Though income from interest on investments has increased since Schoonover took office in 2005, a few mistakes have been made that resulted in less being made than was possible. ● Commissioners expressed varying degrees of concern about how Burpo was hired, with one saying there was at least the appearance that he was improperly pre-selected for the job. ● Many locally owned banks have been cut out of the county’s investments because Schoonover has begun requiring them to secure the money at a rate of 102 percent, making it impractical and in some cases impossible for banks with smaller amounts of capital. Continue Reading