ELYRIA — County investment income dropped from $8.3 million in 2007 to $5.8 million last year and is expected to be $2.9 million this year, Lorain County Treasurer Daniel Talarek said Thursday.

In an attempt to squeeze every dollar possible from the public funds, the county’s investment advisory committee agreed to two of Talarek’s proposals, which he estimated will save the county at least $250,000.

First, the committee agreed to switch from Akron-based FirstMerit Bank to Minnesota-based U.S. Bank for help in administering its investment money, a move that will save $60,000 a year.

Talarek said the county would have liked to stay with FirstMerit, but the bank’s fees were constantly going up. He said U.S. Bank will do the same work for $25,000 that FirstMerit wanted $85,000 to do. U.S. Bank has a Cincinnati office that will process the paperwork, he said.

The committee also agreed to a proposal from Talarek and investment adviser Dennis Yacobozzi for the county to issue its own note and sell it to the county treasurer to fund about $1.3 million of remaining debt on sewers in Amherst and EPA-mandated improvements to several small sewer plants.

That way, the county will be paying the county treasurer 6 percent interest for the next five years instead of paying an outside entity, and the county will avoid the $200,000 to $300,000 cost of issuing the bonds, Talarek said.

The process is being reviewed by the county prosecutor’s office and meets all state investment laws, Talarek said.

He blamed the big drop in investment earnings largely on low yields on investments such as certificates of deposit.

Talarek said the county and other entities are at the mercy of the mortgage crisis and the resulting financial problems that prompted the passage of TARP — the Troubled Asset Relief Program that set aside $700 billion to rescue financial institutions.

“Banks got TARP money, so they don’t want our money anymore,” Talarek said.

He said some CDs are paying an interest rate as low as 0.15 percent. Talarek said he would like to continue to bring in big investment money for the county, but it is getting more and more difficult.

“When I make a lot of money, I’m brilliant, and when I don’t, it’s those darn rates,” he told the group.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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