New law allows cities, counties to pool investments

Oklahoma city and county governments will have the ability to pool their investments when a new law takes effect later this year.

House Bill 2538 allows cities and counties to combine funds to increase the potential for higher yields on investments, said Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore, co-author of the bill.

“You’ve got a bigger bulk of dollars that perhaps allow you to invest and get better returns,” Lepak said. “Bottom line, this should help local governments stretch their tax dollars due to wise, low-risk investment pooling.”

Rogers County Treasurer Jason Carini, who requested the bill, said investment pool returns could be higher than savings accounts.

Carini also said the funds are limited to safe bets.

“You can’t buy S&P 500,” he said. “You can’t buy stocks on companies.”

The bill, which takes effect Nov. 1, also makes it easier for officials to invest the money without directly managing it.

“It takes a lot of time to do that … and a lot of city and county treasurers are wearing multiple hats, and they don’t have the ability to devote towards an aggressive investment program,” Carini said.

‘;
var element = document.getElementById(“sub_message”);
element.appendChild(subMessage);
console.log(“Code Loaded!”);
} else {
var subMessage = document.createElement(‘div’);
subMessage.id = ‘sub-message-top’;
subMessage.class = ‘panel panel-default’;
subMessage.style.backgroundColor = ‘#eee’;
subMessage.style.borderRadius = ‘5px’;
subMessage.style.padding = ’10px’;
subMessage.style.marginTop = ’25px’;
subMessage.style.marginBottom = ’25px’;
subMessage.innerHTML =
‘