CTMA Weighing Options for $1 Million

Collegeville and Trappe Municipal Authority met on Tuesday night to review a presentation given by Mark Lezanic, Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch and Dominic Catrambone, Private Client Director at Penn Liberty.

Over the next couple of weeks, the township will have about $1 million coming its way via returns on matured CDs (certificates of deposit). Under the guidance of township Treasurer Arnold Mann, the municipality will be looking to put this money in a safe place.

Lezanic and Catrambone are suggesting a five-year laddered approach to an investment portfolio that will place the principal into the interest-collecting safety of municipal and federal government bonds.

After careful deliberation of the proposal, the committee decided to have both townships re-evaluate the prospectuses and meet again next week, Tuesday, March 29, 7 p.m. at Collegeville Borough Hall to make a decision one way or the other.

A factor in the group's putting off the decision for one more week was the attached fees that Lezanic, and others would be compensated for assets under management. The proposed fee that Lezanic would be garnering would be .25—.5 percentage points. Although this fee is only required for actively managing the portfolio, members of the board are still going to consider this before moving forward.

Trappe Borough Council member Cathy Johnson had this advice to offer the committee, “If you have ever spent any considerable time searching and reviewing financial assets to manage yourself, you will quickly realize that this small percentage paid in fees is well worth it.”

In Public Works News
Treasurer Arnold Mann reported that the municipality has a balance of slightly more than $700,000 for the month of February. Mann also approved municipal checks going to things like chlorine testers and PennDOT flagman training for the month.

Collegeville/Trappe Director Joseph Hastings reviewed details of a water valve breakage that occurred on Feb. 16 in Collegeville. Hastings told the board that inspectors were already coming this week to inspect the valves and that he had located the source of the malfunction and had a plan for remedial action.

In old business, the board approved the services of Direct Energy as the municipality’s new retailer for energy services. A deal with the provider is a 24-month service plan at a fixed rate of .08523 percent. Before making this decision, the board took many offers into consideration.