by Garrett Macdonald | Oct 15, 2019 | Budgets, Cash Management Practices, Data & Technology, Fintech, Liquidity Analysis, News, Time Horizon
The Town of Aurora, New York is located southeast of Buffalo and includes the Village of East Aurora. Its Main Street is famous for its energetic small-town ambiance with specialty shops, restaurants, and historic homes. It may be most celebrated as the home of Fisher-Price, the internationally renowned toy manufacturer.
The Town of Aurora, with a population of approximately 13,000 (2010 census), has an $8.9 million budget (all funds). In August 2017, Supervisor Jim Bach and the Town Board engaged the cashvest® & rfpPrep® services by three+one®, seeking to provide their taxpayers with as much additional revenue/savings as possible.
Supervisor Bach and Assistant to the Supervisor Kathleen Moffat have carried out three+one®’s plan. Over the past twelve months, the Town has achieved $165,820 in realized interest earnings and “soft savings” of $35,902 in banking fees.
Here are some of the ways the town accomplished this substantial spike in additional revenue:
(1) 100% of the town’s cash is earning interest and 79% of all the town’s cash is providing value through a diversified-liquidity strategy that is meeting the 30-day Treasury index. Current investments are earning between 1.89% and 2.15%. Due to the town’s proactive liquidity strategy employing time horizon data and stress-test modeling, the town has a significant portion of cash locked in fixed-income solutions earning 2.10% through October 2020 – something that could not have been achieved without time horizon data and fixed income solutions.
(2) The town does not look at its cash in select “buckets.” The three+one® plan benchmarks all cash on a quarterly basis and helps the town implement a comprehensive liquidity strategy on all cash in order to guarantee all assets are bringing value to the taxpayers. There’s a science behind continually earning while offsetting banking services, ensuring cash flow for A/P & payroll, and strategic liquidity time horizons.
(3) The Town Board revised and updated its investment policy statement and took steps to adopt electronic payment solutions. These steps provided the framework necessary to ensure the safety of public dollars while meeting all legal requirements and maximizing the value on cash. The adoption of electronic payment options: (1) decreased costs, (2) increased float (increased investment potential on funds), and (3) provided increased transparency through online ePayable technology.
The Town of Aurora’s Board is enthusiastic about trying solutions that provide additional revenue to the taxpayers. With proposed AIM (Aid and Incentives for Municipalities) funding cuts in New York, tax-cap limits, infrastructure needs, and abundant taxpayer service essentials, this new income will provide a much-needed boost in revenue.
If you are a town/village/city or school district weighing the options of whether to take advantage of bringing revenue benefits to your entity, consider the size of your budget and identify your year-to-date interest earnings.
Here are some examples of where interest earnings using cashvest® by three+one® should be:
$5 million budget = at least ~$94,860 in income
$19 million budget = at least ~$353,400 in income
$22 million budget = at least ~$409,200 in income
$69 million budget = at least ~$1,283,400 in income
$92 million budget = at least ~$1,711,200 in income
Finally, bear in mind that there is no one solution in today’s public banking marketplace. Be cautious and skeptical of any vendor that suggests a “one size fits all” product; they simply don’t exist. Public entities have different banks, ever-changing liquidity variations, strategic-liquidity amounts of different sizes, varying degrees of experience, and available time horizons.
We’re proud of the success The Town of Aurora has achieved. We stand ready to do the same for your entity.
by Joe Rulison | Sep 10, 2019 | Banking Relationship, Banking Trends, Budgets, Cash Management Practices, Data & Technology, Fintech, Liquidity Analysis, Summer Blog Series, Time Horizon
There’s no one way to manage cash. Different banks, investment advisors, and financial advisors have their own approaches and perspectives in the management of short-term cash.
However, there is one essential in managing short-term cash: to manage all cash as a revenue-generating asset. You must keep in mind that cash is not linear, but rather multi-dimensional, with different purposes, both in time and value.
Cash is multi-dimensional, with different purposes, both in time and value.
The ability to capture the ebbs and flows of all cash is in the data. Cash patterns are similar to human behaviors since humans are the ones who are conducting the timing of transactions. The genuine need for cash is often far different than when you thinkyou need it. The patterns detected through the data will show actual needs vs. assumed ones.
The cashvest® platform by three+one® is the first of its kind in the public and higher Ed marketplace. It looks at every individual banking transaction, thus detecting the flows of cash through an entity’s financial systems, and then matches it as the cash flows through your bank’s systems. It’s through cashvest® that patterns surface, enabling unparalleled liquidity management. This level of data puts the power of managing your cash in your hands and the financial institutions that manage your cash.
The strength of liquidity analysis and data leads to a greater precision of knowing when you need cash and how to best maximize its value in the marketplace.
Yes, there are different methods to managing cash. But now there is one definitive way to identify all of your cash’s investment potential. That is cashvest® by three+one®.
by Joe Rulison | Aug 27, 2019 | Cash Management Practices, Data & Technology, Fintech, Summer Blog Series, Time Horizon, vlog
Your cash has value by harnessing data & technology. To look at that data and realize the additional revenue for your taxpayers or students is more important than it’s ever been! Our VP, Garrett Macdonald discusses this topic in today’s vlog.
There are not a lot of opportunities to increase revenues without raising taxes or tuition. Let cashvest® be one such opportunity! Start operating your finance office like a revenue center rather than a cost center.
by Joe Rulison | Jul 30, 2019 | Cash Management Practices, Fintech, Liquidity Analysis, News, Predictions, Summer Blog Series, Time Horizon, vlog
At recent GFOA conference, we surveyed attendees and discovered a startling disparity in the experience levels among municipal officers as 25% were comparatively new to their positions. With 50% of finance officials now age 55 or older, preparing for your entity’s leadership depth is essential.
In the near future the largest group of public finance officials will be new to their office. Today’s vlog introduces 5 key strategies to prepare you & your office for those changing demographics.
by Joe Rulison | Jul 23, 2019 | Cash Management Practices, Fintech, Liquidity Analysis, Predictions, Safety vs. Complacency, Summer Blog Series, Time Horizon
Do you ever enter your office to face a wall of anxiety and worry that results in unexpected stress, triggered by questions like:
How are we going to balance our budget with unexpected costs?
Are we fraudproof?
Are we getting the best rates?
Are we prepared for the annual audit?
Do we get the most out of our banking relationships?
Do we have strong liquidity just in case?
How will the public and press react?
Where can we save more money?
Where do we find new sources of revenue?
How do we handle all this work with less staff?
These are just a few of the worries that go through one’s mind in a finance office that create anxiety and lead to stress – not an uncommon occurrence for those serving public entities or higher Ed institutions, especially given the lack of resources, budget pressures, and ever-increasing expectations of accountability by those they serve.
There are some stresses that can be alleviated, however, allowing one to perform more finance functions that can actually lead to new sources of revenue.
Here are five ways to ease stresses on your staff and yourself:
1) Look to outside partners who can fill voids. Bring in additional expertise. View vendors not as an expense, but rather as cost saver or revenue-center provider. This should not be seen as a weakness but rather a strength and a confidence builder in driving results, efficiencies, and cost savings or new revenue initiatives.
2) Drive for greater technology, allowing enhanced productivity and filling in for lower staff levels.
3) Conduct weekly team meetings to provide transparency and allow feedback. The more involved all team members are in decision-making and projects, the greater their productivity and positive attitude.
4) Treat the public as customers by caring, listening, and striving to solve their problems. When a taxpayer walks to the counter, a positive response to your assistance will result in a positive outcome, even if a problem could not be entirely solved. Caring goes a long way and the level of tension does not escalate. A terse exchange can make everyone’s day stressful. Statistically, one bad experience will be passed on to 25 other people, which causes major reputation risk.
5) When vendors come knocking at the door, treat them with respect. As a public official and business owner, there have been many times I have been given a cold reception without an opportunity to even introduce myself. You never know who that person may be or whom they know. A brush-off or a disinterested attitude at the front counter can easily spread throughout the office and be interpreted as an acceptable behavior that may carry over to phone calls and emails.
At three+one® our mission is to alleviate stress, create new sources of revenue for those you serve, while providing stronger bonds between you and your financial institutions. Through diagnostic liquidity analysis, three+one® is able to provide time-horizon data, allowing an entity to maximize marketplace value on all cash.
Just imagine creating a new revenue source without all the anxiety, worry, or stress. Now that’s something to celebrate with those in your office and with those you serve.
