State Treasurer Dean Martin On the State Financial Crisis.

State Treasurer Dean Martin Talks About Budget Crisis

State Treasurer Dean Martin talks about the state budget crisis, as seen on Sunday Square Off on KPNX-TV Channel 12 and AZCentral.com, December 6, 2009.

State Treasurer Dean Martin speaks on ‘Horizon’ about the state’s financials

State Treasurer Dean Martin discusses the $700 million loan the State of Arizona is seeking to meet its financial obligations as seen on KAET-PBS Channel 8 Phoenix, November 19, 2009.

Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin Says State’s Great

State Treasurer Dean Martin wants everyone to know the money they’re sending the state’s way is finally in good hands.

On a three-day tour of Southern Arizona, Martin met with local officials in an effort to put to rest their worries about the turmoil in the department surrounding the former treasurer, David Petersen, and restore their confidence in “the state’s bank.”

Petersen did not seek re-election to office last year after coming under fire and possible criminal investigation for improperly keeping speaking fees, billing the state for personal travel expenses and hiring friends whose primary responsibilities were to push his Character First training program in businesses and schools. The Arizona Treasurer’ Office collects and distributes more than $36 billion each year in fees and tax revenue. It also manages nearly $12.2 billion in 26 different investment portfolios, most as a service to local governments.

“Pima County is our largest investor,” Martin said in an interview as a reason for his visit here.

“We want them, as well as all the rest of our investors in Southern Arizona, to know we’re off to a good start, rebuilding the investment and portfolio management staff and putting in the checks and balances to protect their funds.”

The Treasurer’s Office is also working to improve communication by putting the database online and meeting with each investor quarterly to update them on the status of their investment pool.

Martin remains upbeat despite the economic setbacks in the housing industry. Although economic growth may slow, he said better fund management will keep the state’s portfolio benchmarks on the rise.

That includes the $2.4 billion education endowment fund.

“We’re estimating a $69.26 million distribution for fiscal 2008, more than double fiscal 2007, and we’ve been able to do that with a 7 percent rate of return, above the rate of inflation, without increasing land sales,” he said.

By 2010 he said he expects the distribution to be more than $90 million,

“The endowment doesn’t cost the taxpayers a cent,” Martin said. “It protects us from the boom and bust that always part of our state’s economy, and it gives us another tool in our toolbox to focus on our investment in education, for the long term, without depending on short-term decisions by the legislature.”

Contact Philip S. Moore at pmoore@azbiz.com or at (520) 295-4238.

Philip S. Moore, Inside Tucson Business

Information from: http://www.aztreasury.gov/media/2007/AZBiz_08-07.html, AZBiz.com

Dean Martin Revamping State Treasurer’s Office

“That’s a little bit concerning to have such an eight-month slide,” he said. “There’s one or two things that could be happening. We could just be correcting for an extremely great 2006, and maybe we’re just getting back to normal. And we’re going to have more normal growth instead of double digit. Or we’re sliding toward recession. It’s too early to tell. But we’re definitely at a turning point.”

He said that all of the projections look as if economically things are not going to be as strong as they have been for the past several years. Now is the time to be a little more fiscally conservative, he said. He has advised the Governor’s Office to not allow the state to overextend on spending.

“It’s kind of a mixed situation. We could be seeing the bottom and be moving back up again, or we could go flat, or we could go down. We know it’s not going to be as good as it was in the past. It’s time to be a little more cautious,” he said.

Martin said the Treasurer’s Office is still recovering from problems that occurred under the previous treasurer. The department had a 160-percent employee turnover rate. “That’s a very fast moving revolving door,” he said. “Moral was just terrible. So it’s been a rebuilding process.”

Martin said he has spent the first three months of his term re-staffing the office. The office currently has 28 employees, with two positions left to fill. He said he has brought back staff that worked in the office for years but left because of the problems. “We’ve been basically stealing the best and the brightest from all over,” he said.

They had essentially stopped balancing the checkbook for the state accounting system for the last 15 months, he said. The office is starting to reconcile all the books.

“We discovered that the governor’s accounting office had improperly been counting $28 million of federal health care money as general fund, general spending,” he said. “We’re basically reconciling the books and making sure that all the dollars are where they are and are supposed to be. We’re not done yet. We probably have a couple more months worth of work,” he said.

The office has a new Web site that will soon feature information on all the revenue sharing the state does with local governments and schools. The program is currently being tested and is expected to be up and running in a couple of weeks, Martin said. Once the program is installed, residents will be able to research how much money the state has collected and distributed to cities, counties and schools. Residents will also be able to search the information by date instead of fiscal year. For example, a Kingman resident could research how much tax the state collected for the city between Jan. 15, 2006, and Feb. 15, 2006. Information on the site will be updated on a daily basis, he said.

“It’s the best thing we can do to fix not only public confidence and trust but to prevent something from happening in the future,” he said.

Martin said he is also bringing in an outside, independent investment firm to review what was done during the previous administration and to provide investment advice.

He’s also requested an internal auditor for the office in this year’s budget.

“Amazingly, we’re a $12 billion bank. We had no internal auditor. That’s the first thing I asked for,” he said.

The State Treasurer’s Office also handles all of the state’s investments. Once the budget is signed into law and takes effect July 1, the office will be able to hire someone for the position.

Suzanne Adams Miner Staff Writer

Information from: http://www.aztreasury.gov/media/2007/DailyMiner_05-07.html