PRESS RELEASE Office of Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  --  September 26, 2005

 State Treasurer Sarah Steelman Outlines Policy Changes and Challenges
In Address To Annual Convention of Missouri’s County Treasurers

    JEFFERSON CITY – State Treasurer Sarah Steelman addressed county treasurers from across the state at the annual convention of the Missouri’s County Treasurers Association in Branson on Sept. 21.

    In her remarks, Steelman thanked the county treasurers for their commitment to public service and emphasized the dual challenges treasurers at all levels face in safeguarding public funds while meeting the fiduciary responsibility of safely earning the best return on each tax dollar citizens pay in taxes. 

“As trustees and managers of public funds, we must ensure that investments work hard earning interest and are timed to mature precisely when needed for public programs and services,” Steelman said. “And to meet the trust placed in us by the people, we must use the highest safeguards to ensure investment strategies and cash management practices that never place public money at risk.”

Steelman noted that in making investment and cash management decisions, public treasurers must consider not only comparative yield of returns, but also the aggregate benefits that investment practices bring to taxpayers.

“To truly measure the success of investing public funds, we must look not only at the bottom line, but must also consider all benefits our investments bring to taxpayers,” Steelman said. “Do those investments create jobs in Missouri? Do they help our farms and businesses? Do they benefit the taxpayers to whom those dollars truly belong?”

Steelman said she has changed investment policies in Jefferson City to eliminate broker-dealer contracts with companies owned by a French bank that financed the Iraqi Oil-For-Food scandal, and worked to implement effective screening systems to prevent the investment of Missouri tax dollars in foreign companies and countries with ties to terrorist groups or activities.

To maximize the benefit of state investments to taxpayers, Steelman outlined legislation passed this year that will allow up to $720 million to be placed in Missouri banks that can be used to make reduced-rate, linked-deposit loans to help small businesses, create jobs and help family farms and agricultural operations in the state.

The Treasurer said the new program is called “B.I.G. Missouri,” an acronym for “believe, invest and grow” in Missouri. She said the new law is now in effect, and that her office would begin processing requests from banks for linked deposits on Sept. 30.

“This program allows us to bring our tax dollars back to Missouri and put them to work in our communities creating jobs for citizens and helping local businesses prosper,” Steelman said. “The state bears no risk of loans placed through the program, but will benefit greatly from job creation, business expansion and the revenue generated by the increased economic activity they help generate.”

Steelman was joined by directors from two of the three divisions of the Treasurer’s Office. The directors presented programs ranging from collateral needed for public deposits to changes in electronic transfers and banking involving public funds.

 “The responsibilities facing each treasurer in this state are different, but we all face the challenge of protecting public funds while making sure money entrusted to us works safely for the citizens to whom it belongs,” Steelman said. Like any challenge, this is one we can best meet by working together to share ideas, innovations and solutions to provide the best possible level of service to the citizens who place in us the high trust of public service.”

Contact: Mark Hughes, director of policy and communications (573) 751-7595
An electronic version of this release is available at: http://www.treasurer.mo.gov/newsandevents.asp