Montana § 7-6-202 - Investment Of Public Money

§ 7-6-202. Investment Of Public Money

Investment of public money. (1) A municipal group self-insurance program that may include consolidated governments established pursuant to an interlocal agreement may follow the investment standards provided in Title 33, chapter 12, parts 1 through 3, to invest public money that is not required for immediate use by the municipal group self-insurance program. (2) A local governing body may invest public money not necessary for immediate use by the county, city, or town in the following eligible securities: (a) United States government treasury bills, notes, and bonds and in United States treasury obligations, such as state and local government series (SLGS), separate trading of registered interest and principal of securities (STRIPS), or similar United States treasury obligations; (b) United States treasury receipts in a form evidencing the holder's ownership of future interest or principal payments on specific United States treasury obligations that, in the absence of payment default by the United States, are held in a special custody account by an independent trust company in a certificate or book-entry form with the federal reserve bank of New York; or (c) obligations of the following agencies of the United States, subject to the limitations in subsection (3): (i) federal home loan bank; (ii) federal national mortgage association; (iii) federal home mortgage corporation; and (iv) federal farm credit bank. (3) An investment in an agency of the United States is authorized under this section if the investment is a general obligation of the agency and has a fixed or zero-coupon rate and does not have prepayments that are based on underlying assets or collateral, including but not limited to residential or commercial mortgages, farm loans, multifamily housing loans, or student loans. (4) The local governing body may invest in a United States government security money market fund if: (a) the fund is sold and managed by a management-type investment company or investment trust registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-1 through 80a-64), as may be amended; (b) the fund consists only of eligible securities as described in this section; (c) the use of repurchase agreements is limited to agreements that are fully collateralized by the eligible securities, as described in this section, and the investment company or investment trust takes delivery of the collateral for any repurchase agreement, either directly or through an authorized custodian; (d) the fund is listed in a national financial publication under the category of "money market mutual funds", showing the fund's average maturity, yield, and asset size; and (e) the fund's average maturity does not exceed 397 days. (5) Except as provided in subsection (6), an investment authorized in this part may not have a maturity date exceeding 5 years, except when the investment is used in an escrow account to refund an outstanding bond issue in advance. (6) An investment in zero-coupon United States government treasury bills, notes, and bonds purchased as a sinking fund investment for a balloon payment on qualified construction bonds described in 17-5-116 (1) may have a maturity date exceeding 5 years if: (a) the maturity date of the United States government treasury bills, notes, and bonds is on or before the date of the balloon payment; and (b) the school district trustees provide written consent. (7) This section may not be construed to prevent the investment of public funds under the state unified investment program established in Title 17, chapter 6, part 2.