By Leah Murray

City begins Heritage Trust Fund investment

Jan 24, 2017 | 4:10 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — At their meeting on Monday, Medicine Hat city council approved plans to begin investing some of the city’s reserve money through the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).

AIMCo is the same entity that manages and invests the province’s Heritage Fund.

This year, the city will be transferring $10 million to AIMCo every month with $120 million of the city’s $500 million in reserves earmarked for investment.

The goal is to generate money for the city from the interest earned on those funds. Council has called it the Medicine Hat version of the Heritage Trust Fund.

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Mayor Ted Clugston said Medicine Hat is the only city outside of Calgary and Edmonton that is allowed to invest this way.

“The province took a look at our financial situation and said ‘you guys are doing very very well, you seem to be handling your money better than other municipalities,’” he said. “In the past, all we could invest in were GICs (guaranteed investment certificate) and bonds, which is a one or two per cent rate of return. They’re now saying [we] can go for that six to eight percent rate of return in equities.”

Clugston adds the city will begin transferring the money to AIMCo right away.