By VICKI URBANIK

The Porter County Council agreed Monday to seek proposals from financial institutions to manage the investment of the $120 million or so in proceeds from the sale of Porter Memorial Hospital.

The proposal to seek a financial manager stemmed from a council committee that explored how to handle the investments. Council attorney Dave Hollenbeck said the committee determined that if there is active management over the money, as opposed to placing the funds in a simple certificate of deposit, the county could end up with interest earnings as much as 1.5 percent more.

“When you’re talking about 120 million bucks, one and a half percent is a lot of money,” he said.

Council member Mike Bucko, D-4th, who chairs the council committee, said the county wouldn’t lose any of the principal regardless of its investment strategy. But a wise investment strategy, the county could end up making more in interest. And regardless of how the interest will be spent, the difference could mean $1 million or more that could otherwise be returned to the community, Bucko said.

Hollenbeck noted the decline in interest rates and said forecasts show that CDs in the coming months will yield no more than 3 percent interest, while a more active management of the money might generate a return of up to 5 percent.

Council member Robert Poparad, D-1st, questioned if the county can seek a guaranteed rate and, if so, if it needs to retain an investment house. Hollenbeck said a guaranteed rate is unlikely, unless the money is placed in a CD.

“If it was my money, I wouldn’t give it to Johnny’s Investment House,” Poparad said. Hollenbeck assured him that the money won’t end up in questionable hands, and that the county is restricted by law to only a finite number of investment options. However, he also said there are some federally backed investments in the secondary markets that the county treasurer’s office can’t access but that investment firms can.

The council agreed to seek a request from proposals from both investment houses and banks offering fixed interest rates.

In another matter Monday, out-going Porter County Clerk Dale Brewer was shot down in her request to boost the pay for her chief deputy from $36,484 to $40,054. Brewer said she read in the paper how, during the latest budget hearings, the council increased the salaries for certain other positions. Out of fairness, she said she sought the same in her department.

But Poparad said just because another deputy got a raise isn’t justification to boost the pay in the clerk’s office, calling the request part of the “me too syndrome.” The request was shot down unanimously, with Rita Stevenson, D-2nd, a clerk’s employee, abstaining.

Council member Jim Burge, R-at large, once again called on the council to hire a human resources employee or create a human resources department to determine equity in county employee pay. After the vote, Brewer endorsed that idea, saying that she hopes the county gets back to job descriptions because the inequities in county pay are now “absolutely terrible.”

Posted 12/4/2007