So it is with great pleasure that I can say that not only has our office strictly followed state and county guidelines created to protect public dollars, but that we have generated on average the highest overall interest rate of any large county in Florida. Our current average yield for all of our investments is 6.19 percent versus 5.91 percent in Broward and 5.8 percent in Miami-Dade. By obtaining an outstanding return, we increase the dollars the county can use to keep taxes down. Returns should be similar or higher for this year. During this fiscal year, the most notable change in investment strategy was the acquisition of corporate debt, within the constraints of the County Investment Policy.
Corporate debt offers attractive yield as well as further diversifies the portfolio.
Palm Beach County is the only county of the nine counties surveyed by our office that invests in corporate bonds. Details of our investment strategy, portfolio composition, and interest rates are included in our June 2000 Quarterly Investment Update publication .