Plumas County officials are making “measurable progress” in resolving the issues causing controversy over the treasurer’s office, Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Hagwood said at the board’s Jan. 16 meeting. But resolution was not moving quickly enough for the supervisors to grant Treasurer/Tax Collector Julie White authority to invest county funds and those of other depositors for 2024.
That could happen at the board’s Feb. 6 meeting, when the supervisors will review a nine-page document outlining investment policy and guidelines. Among the procedures described in the policy are terms for funds invested with the county investment pool, conflicts of interest, and monthly investment reports to the county supervisors and other entities participating in the investment pool.
White, whom Plumas County voters have elected as their treasurer since 2011, has frequently requested investment authority. She repeated that Jan. 16.
“Right now there is no authority. I’m doing the work,” White said. “If it’s not delegated to me, the work of investment falls upon the board.”
The county treasurer has typically been granted annually for the calendar year. It has not been done for several years.
Hagwood recommended holding authority approval until the supervisors adopt the policy and guidelines, awaiting fine-tuning by the county counsel’s office. Interim County Counsel Josh Brechtel agreed: “It would seem logical to have all this together at the same time.”
Plumas County Administrative Officer Debra Lucero reminded the supervisors that the county is around 29 months out of compliance with monthly and quarterly reporting by the treasurer. “We are catching up now,” she said, but suggested that “it would be prudent to have that compliance reporting caught up prior to delegating the authority.”
Feather River College awaiting investment reports
Friction between White and the board of supervisors has been mounting for months. It erupted Jan. 2, when White asked supervisors for investment authority and reimbursement for the attorney fees she has paid to defend herself against complaints relating to emails from various county officials and her handling of investment funds.
On Jan. 16 that controversy was largely limited to comments from Kevin Trutna, president of Feather River College. The Quincy-based college is one of several organizations participating in the county investment pool. White has routinely invested county funds along with those from the college, Feather River Tourism Association and special districts scattered around the county.
Trutna reported Jan. 2 that Feather River College has lost an estimated $691,587.54 in interest payments. He blamed a lack of timely interest reports over the last six quarters. The college was unable to close its books for 2023, resulting in an annual audit material finding — a statement by an auditor indicating deviations from standard accounting practice, Trutna said.
“It’s going to take a little bit of time.”
Julie White, Plumas County treasurer
The college still has not received reports from the first quarter that ended Sept. 15, 2023, “much less the year before,” he said.
County and Feather River College staff met after the Jan. 16 meeting to develop solutions to the investment problems that Trutna and other district managers have reported. They are making progress, Trutna told The Plumas Sun Jan. 26. The college received final closure for the fiscal year in June 2023.
Still remaining is the issue of compound interest, which the college has not received for many months. At 2% of nearly $700,000 over six quarters, that could amount to a full salary, Trutna said.
The college is 17% of the investment pool. When compound interest is considered across the pool of cemetery, water and school districts that are included, it amounts to “a significant amount of money,” he said.
Trutna told The Plumas Sun he looks forward to monthly investment reports that show all transactions, types of investment, issuer purchase dates, maturity dates, purchase prices, yield to maturity and current market value for all securities. “That will definitely help our operations, and we’re here to assist in any way possible,” Trutna told the supervisors.
White said she is working with new software that should help bring reports up to date. Still, she said, “it’s going to take a little bit of time.”
Supervisor Kevin Goss moved to table approving both White’s investment authority and the treasurer’s investment policy and guidelines. Supervisor Jeff Engel cast the lone no vote.
