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 our February 2000 survey showed we generate on average the highest overall interest rate of any large county in Florida. At that time our average yield for all our investments was 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. During the Fiscal Year 2000, the most notable change in investment strategy was the acquisition of corporate debt.
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 January 2001 Quarterly Investment Update publication . Note - Each county surveyed had a written investment policy and no funds were invested with an external manager.