by Brian Keaney

The Commissioners of the Trust Funds got their yearly update from their investment advisor earlier this week who advised them to “stay the course.”  Commissioners agreed and, aside from a clarification in the language of their Investment Policy Statement, made no changes.

Eric Gutterson of BNY Mellon, the Town’s investment agent, gave an overview of all of the Town’s investments to the Commissioners.  The Town’s trust funds increased .96% in the first two quarters of 2009, and 5.07% in the past three years. 

The Town has 27 trust funds, apart from the stabilization funds, totaling $2.2 million.  Of those, 10 are set aside for the libraries, five for scholarships, and two for the construction of a senior center.

The Trustees keep 5%, or $69,000, in cash reserve to fund known annual distributions.  This is down from the 10% kept in previous years.  The funds are all in short term investments, and is designed so that 20% of all investments will mature each year.  Any payments made to the Town are based on the cash on hand at the end of the year.

Gutternman said he felt the economy had bottomed out, and that interest rates were going to rise.  For that reason he recommended keeping the funds in short term investments.

“I think you are right where you need to be,” Gutterman said.

Chairman Michael Windborne, who also sits on the Shuttleworth Committee, gave the Commissioners an update of their activities.  The Shuttleworth Committee distributes funds left to the town by Hannah Shuttleworth upon her death in 1886.

Shuttleworth left the funds to give “both aid and employment to the worthy poor,” and also to provide “materials for domestic work, for the purpose of giving employment” to residents.  Today, the funds are used to help pay rent, utility and pharmaceutical bills of residents.

Windborne said that in the first half of the year $990 was spent from the trust, and so far in the second half of the year distributions totaled $2,000.  The Committee was formed in January.  The Commissioners had approved spending up to 10% of the earned income of the fund each year, with a maximum of $500 going to any one family. 

Windborne said that while efforts had been made to alert the public of the fund’s availability, they were still distributing far less than was available.  As of 2008 the fund had an expendable balance of $237,000, in addition to the principal of $30,000.

Commissioner Joseph Leonard asked if the fund could be used to buy holiday meals for needy families.  Windborne said the Shuttleworth Committee’s discussions have centered around those most in need, and that they were focused on things like avoiding utility shut offs. 

Town Treasurer and Collector Robin Reyes, who also sits on the Shuttleworth Committee, said that they encourage applicants to seek out other means of assistance first.  Their intention is to be a last resort, he said.

Gutterman also gave a separate accounting of the Bullock Family Trust, which was required by the terms of the bequest.  That fund gives scholarships to Dedham High School students who are seeking careers in either medicine or science. 

He did not give a separate account of the Shuttleworth Trust, though the Town bylaws require records of the fund to be kept in “a book separate and apart from other accounts.”  The bylaw also requires that a detailed accounting of the fund be published in the Town Reports, which has not been done for at least the past several years.