Consolidated fund

Treasurer Perdue is delighted that the Legislature has seen fit to return control of the state Consolidated Fund to his office.

On the last night of the past session, the House of Delegates affirmed an earlier Senate passage of SB 558, returning the fund to the office where it had resided until 1997. A past administration had removed the fund from the treasury, partly in reponse to treasury money losses incurred in the late 1980s.Treasurer Perdue had nothing to do with those mistakes.

The treasurer had lobbied the Legislature the last four years in an effort to have the money returned. The $2 billion fund is a broad category of money that basically includes all of the state's operating revenue.

In the truest sense, the Consolidated Fund is state money. It represents no pensions or long-term investments but does require shorter investments and money management skills. "Where else do the state's operating funds belong but in the state treasury?" the treasurer asks.

Treasurer Perdue feels confident his office can meet or exceed Consolidated Fund returns posted by the Investment Management Board, a quasi-independent state agency that has held and invested the money for the past eight years. The Treasurer's Office boasts a full array of educated, certified financial professionals who will make full use of consultants and advice when the need arises.

Indeed, the fight to return the fund to the treasury has not been an easy one. Treasurer Perdue had to ward off late amendments this session that would have allowed the state to engage in alternative, relatively risky investments. Legislators acted with prudence in the end and returned the money to where it rightly belongs.

"Neither the Legislature nor the public will be sorry to have the Consolidated Fund returned to my office," Perdue said. "After fighting for so long to regain the money, we are going to do everything in our power to keep the public trust."