The City of Houston invest public funds in a manner which will provide the highest investment return with the maximum security while meeting the daily cash flow demands of the City and conforming to all state and local statutes governing the investment of public funds. Public funds are invested through programs such as General Funds, Special Revenue Funds, General Debt Service Funds, Capital Project Funds, Enterprise Funds, and Trust and Agency Funds. The City’s investment portfolio is $5.2 billion and the debt program is approximately $14.9 billion as of June 30, 2021. As of June 30, 2021, this investment portfolio's dollar-weighted average maturity was 1.65 years. Modified duration was 1.63 years. The following describes the investment positions of the City's operating funds as of June 30, 2021. More ...
COVID-19 News - Treasury Dept at the State of Texas
This page offers tools for taxpayers, local governments and those who do business with State of Texas, which includes Houston. This page will be updated regularly as the emergency situation continues to evolve. (Go to https://comptroller.texas.gov/about/emergency/ to read more information)
Disclaimer Report
All information on this site has been furnished or obtained by the City from sources believed to be accurate and reliable but is not guaranteed. Because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, the information in this site is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, including, but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, freedom from contamination by computer viruses and non-infringement of proprietary rights, and, in particular, no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made or to be inferred as to the accuracy, timeliness, adequacy, legality, usefulness, reliability or completeness of this information. (Please click to read more information)
SWAP Quarterly Report
The objective of the swaps is to hedge against the potential of rising interest rates associated with the Bonds and to achieve a lower fixed rate than the market rate for traditional fixed rate debt at time of issuance. The notional amounts of the swap agreements total $653.3 million, the principal amount of the associated Bonds. The City’s swap agreements contain scheduled reductions to outstanding notional amounts that follow anticipated payments of principal of the Bonds in varying amounts during the years 2028 to 2034. Under the terms of the swaps, the City will pay a fixed rate of 3.78% and receive a floating rate equal to 57.6% of One-Month US Dollar LIBOR plus 37 basis points. Read more SWAP information.
Investment Reports
The City of Houston invest public funds in a manner which will provide the highest investment return with the maximum security while meeting the daily cash flow demands of the City and conforming to all state and local statutes governing the investment of public funds. Public funds are invested through programs such as General Funds, Special Revenue Funds, General Debt Service Funds, Capital Project Funds, Enterprise Funds, and Trust and Agency Funds. The City’s investment portfolio is $5.2 billion as of June 30, 2021. The City’s investment portfolio shall be designed with the objective of attaining the best feasible rate of return, throughout budgetary and economic cycles, commensurate with the City’s investment risk constraints and the cash flow. The City’s investment portfolio will remain sufficiently liquid to enable the City to meet all operating requirements and the funds shall be undertaken in a manner that seeks to ensure the preservation of capital for the overall portfolio. Read More ...
Debt Transparency Report
DECEMBER 2018 -- The 84th Legislature passed HB 1378 to increase the transparency of local government debt. Under Local Government Code §140.008, political subdivisions, including counties, cities, school districts, junior college districts, special purpose districts, and other subdivisions of state government must annually compile their debt obligation data from the preceding fiscal year. The City of Houston has posted its Debt Transparency Report that displays Houston’s individual outstanding debt obligations for General Obligation, Airport System, Consolidated Rental Car Special Facility, Special Facilities, Convention & Entertainment Facilities, and Combined Utility System. This report is dated as of June 30th 2021. Read the Debt Transparency Report (.pdf)
ESG Investing
The investment initatitve to fully integrate environment, social, and goverance (ESG) consideration into investment decision-making process will solidify Houston’s place as a leader on responsible investment, generating higher risk-adjusted returns and making an impact on Houston’s broader priorities. ESG investing drives better risk-adjusted returns, since companies that score higher on ESG facts tend to have stronger fundamentals that mitigate financial risk, putting those companies in a better position for long-run stability and profitability. Also, ESG investing help guid invesment dollars to make a positive impact on some of the most fundamental challenges facing Houstonians. Read more about ESG Investing
Why Purchase City Municipal Bonds?
Municipal bonds have been essential to Houston’s growth. I am not sure most of the people who back them—the taxpayers— know the true value of municipal bonds. In short, bonds have allowed the City of Houston to accommodate all the new citizens in our city, over a quarter million moving here from other U.S. towns and cities just in the last decade. Our public schools, streets, water system, sewer system, airports, mass transit and the many public amenities for citizens—parks, libraries, health clinics—are all made possible by tax revenue and bonds. And it’s been that way for most American cities for the past 100 years. Why would the City issue bonds? Why would we want to accumulate debt, rather than relieve the debt we already have? It’s much like a young family looking to buy their first house: they certainly don’t want to save their money for 30 years, living in a small apartment, so they can finally buy a house outright. Instead, they go to a bank and arrange for a 30-year loan, a mortgage. Yes, they could look at this transaction as one of indebtedness, but of course they choose to look at it as their first home. More ...
COH Index & Treasury Rates Tracking
The Treasury Division is responsible in tracking the available indexes, LIBOR, VRDOs, SOFR, and Treasury Rate as it relates to the City’s outstanding Bonds Obligations and structure. The benchmark LIBOR rates are essential for setting interest rates on all sorts of debts from corporate bonds to mortgages to the rates that banks lend to each other. As for the Treasury Rates, the yields are interpolated by the Treasury from the daily yield curve. This curve, which relates the yield on a security to its time to maturity is based on the closing market bid yields on actively traded Treasury securities in the over-the-counter market. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by Treasury securities. More ...
