Algood To Consider Moving Money To State’s Investment Pool

The City of Algood might be moving some local dollars to the state’s investment pool.

City Administrator Keith Morrison said doing so would provide the city with a better interest rate.

“Currently with Wilson Bank, our return is like .55-percent. With First National Bank, which is where our checking is housed, it’s like a .03-percent,” Morrison said. “The investment pool peaked back in April. Their investments were returning an annualized interest rate of 2.41-percent. They have declined each month since then. They’re currently showing a return of 2.28-percent.”

City Council voted Tuesday to table a measure to join the Local Government Investment Pool. City Councilman Luke Hill said he wanted more time to study the proposal.

“It would be nice to see a breakdown of the bank rate and what the state can offer,” Hill said. “Also, one of the things that are important, in my opinion, is accessibility. To make sure you’ve got the accessibility to these funds.”

Algood currently has about $5.6 million of its undesignated fund balance invested at First National Bank and Wilson Bank. Morrison said the city would move a portion of the funds from both banks to the state’s investment pool.

“There were quite a few cities working through the investment pool right now,” Morrison said. “I made some investigating phone calls and talked to one local. They’ve been happy with the service, the ease of transactions, and the returns.”

The city council plans to consider the measure at a later date. In the meantime, Morrison said he would talk to the banks about working out additional options.