Editor,
The city treasurer is responsible for “managing” Laguna’s investment funds, but California Government Code Sections 53600 seq. and California local agency investment guidelines prescribe where cities are allowed to invest. Security of the asset is the primary objective, so most categories are not big money makers.
Given the reported $99 million Laguna Beach has invested, and the $900,000 in income reported in incumbent City Treasurer Laura Parisi’s ads, the apparent rate of return is under 1%. This is not a brilliant return on assets of that size when five year fully insured CDs are available at rates well above that.
This merits serious consideration of candidate Anne McGraw, who has many years of experience managing both commercial banking operations and fiduciary responsibilities for non-profits that are similar to those required of our treasurer, and is prepared to do the job in the time allotted by City Council.
Jane Hall, Laguna Beach
The author is a professor of economics emerita from Cal State Fullerton.
Electing Ms. McGraw as the Laguna Beach treasurer is a major downgrade to the City’s finances. We need people who are qualified. No change needed.
I’m not sure how saving the city 100’s of hours in overtime charges is a major downgrade. Reality is the incumbent doesn’t have any other clients and has expanded the position. This happens when an incumbent has run unopposed for 17 years. The city council has been forced in the last month to take action to try to rein in the incumbent’s annual expenses of over $130,000 for this part-time position. By the way, that is about double what the city is paying a FULL-TIME police officer or firefighter.
Editor’s Note: see for yourself: