Senate Passes Cemetery Trust Fund Measure, Local Officials to Gain Greater Flexibility with Investment Options
The Missouri General Assembly is now down to the final three weeks of the 2017 legislative session. Numerous bills are still making their way through the process and a Fiscal Year 2018 budget to finalize. We have a lot of work remaining for lawmakers in both chambers. On Wednesday, we approved one measure that I handled in the Senate: House Bill 51, which was authored by 1st District Representative Allen Andrews. The bill authorizes county commissions that oversee cemetery funds to utilize investment managers.
Whether it’s mowing, fixing fences or setting up headstones, cemeteries require a great deal of upkeep. To pay for these services, many Missouri counties, especially our third class counties, have set up cemetery trust funds to help ensure there’ll always be financial resources available to cover the costs of maintaining their cemetery grounds and facilities. Unfortunately, when it comes to the type of investment tools these commissions can access, they’re pretty much limited to certificates of deposit (CDs) and treasury bonds. As we all know, the interest rates on these are very low — so low they fail to keep up with inflation, let alone generate the type of returns these commissions need to cover their maintenance costs.
House Bill 51 gives our county commissions greater flexibility concerning their cemetery trusts by allowing them to go out and secure investment professionals who can help manage their funds. It allows counties to gain a better return on their investments while keeping what’s known as a “prudent investor” standard, so no risky investments are made. This legislation was drafted to meet the state treasurer’s investment parameters.
I am glad we are enabling our local officials on HB 51 and provide them with access to better investment tools, so they can ultimately have the financial resources they need to care for their cemeteries.
As always, please feel free to call, email, or write with your ideas or concerns. My Capitol office number is (573) 751-1415, my email is dan.hegeman@senate.mo.gov and my mailing address is Room 332, State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101.
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