Dwight E. Brock, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Collier County issued a statement today to assure Collier County taxpayers that funds he invests and manages on their behalf have not, and will not, be impacted by the subprime mortgage problems being reported in the media.

The funds managed by the Clerk are largely invested in federally backed government securities and are not impacted by the recent fall in mortgage backed securities. Mr. Brock stated that his strongly held investment philosophy is one of broad diversification and the use of conservative investment instruments to achieve a reasonable rate of return.

The Clerk has consistently invested in minimal risk instruments and positioned the
taxpayer’s funds to avoid subjecting tax dollars to the potential of losing money.
Recently, the State Board of Administration (SBA), who handles investments for many local governments in the state of Florida, acknowledged that approximately 7. 3% of their securities have been downgraded by credit rating companies. The amount that the SBA manages on behalf of Collier County is about onehalf of one percent or .06 % of the total $800,000,000 portfolio.

For the year ending on September 30, 2007, the Clerk has realized an annualized rate of return of 5.1916% on the total of the managed portfolio.
For more details on Collier County’s investment portfolio managed by the Clerk’s Office, go to www.collierclerk.com, click on Clerk to the Board, then Clerk’s Accounting.