MOOSE JAW — The City of Moose Jaw’s investment portfolios gained nearly $1 million during this year’s first quarter, which was nearly $1.5 million less than what the portfolios generated last quarter.
During city council’s May 26 regular meeting, the investment committee presented a report with the first-quarter results. Council then voted unanimously to receive and file the document.
The report showed that there was $1,310,210.78 in the short-term portfolio, $24,497,318.01 in the moderate-term portfolio and $80,205,023.05 in the long-term portfolio as of March 31, for a total of $106,012,551.84.
Short-term portfolio
Q1 was the first time that the investment committee reported on the short-term portfolio since the account was new, so the year-to-date percentage return was unavailable, the report said.
However, the data showed that account manager RBC Dominion Securities invested $1,310,210.78, which generated a return of 2.48 per cent or $2,342.04 and increased the portfolio to $1,312,552.82.
Moderate-term portfolio
From Jan. 1 to March 31, the moderate-term portfolio grew by 1.13 per cent and generated $288,615.87. This amount increased the portfolio to $27,121,846.45 from $26,833,230.58, but because the city withdrew $2,624,528.44 to fund capital projects, that reduced the portfolio to $24,497,318.01.
Since its inception in July 2019, this portfolio has generated $8,208,221.72 in interest, while the city has withdrawn $16,289,096.29 to fund capital projects.
Long-term portfolio
From Jan. 1 to March 31, the long-term portfolio grew by 0.77 per cent and generated $617,870.20. This amount increased the portfolio to $85,154,719.05, but because the city withdrew $4,949,696 to fund capital projects, that reduced the portfolio to $80,205,023.05.
Since its inception in July 2019, this portfolio has generated $30,014,003.72 in interest, while the city has withdrawn $50,191,019.33 to fund capital projects.
Combined, all three portfolios in the first quarter gained $908,828.11, but because of the capital funding withdrawals, the overall gain was a loss of $6,665,396.33.
In comparison, the moderate- and long-term portfolios gained $2,396,551.44 during the fourth quarter of 2024; the difference between the fourth and first quarters was $1,487,723.33.
Meanwhile, since their inception, both portfolios have produced a total return of $38,222,225.44 in earnings, equal to a municipal tax hike of 98.66 percentage points.
“… as many people probably know, the first quarter of 2025 has been turbulent and volatile, with the city seeing modest returns for the quarter … ,” Coun. Dawn Luhning, a member of the investment committee, said while giving the report.
Luhning said she listens to a market analyst every week, who said recently that April 3 was “the scene of the crime” because that’s when the markets started to decline after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a baseline 10-per-cent tariff on all imported goods, plus additional “reciprocal” tariffs on countries he claimed imposed high trade barriers on the United States.
However, the councillor pointed out that the market has recovered since then, which was positive because if she had been reporting the second-quarter data, those numbers wouldn’t have looked as good as Q1.
Meanwhile, Luhning said the City of Moose Jaw has a longer-term outlook with its portfolios compared to individuals’ portfolios since the former — as a corporation — will likely exist long after most people today have died. That is why the long-term portfolio is weighted toward equities.
Continuing, the councillor said that the nearly $39 million in interest that the portfolios have generated since April 2019 was something to be proud of, while she added that RBC is moving $13 million from the moderate-term account to the short-term portfolio to support the landfill project.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, June 9.
