In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Centre County officials have moved toward divesting any investments in Russian-held assets from the county’s retirement fund.
“We really want to stand with Ukraine and support them in any way we can,” Commissioner Michael Pipe during a board meeting on Tuesday. He noted that many entities across the world and state have been moving to stop investing in Russia, such as the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which is removing Russian-made products from shelves.
The commissioners discussed the matter during a retirement board meeting on Tuesday.
All members of the retirement board — commissioners Pipe, Steven Dershem and Mark Higgins, along with controller Jason Moser and treasurer Colleen Kennedy — supported the move to divest investments from Russia or Russian-owned and Russian-controlled assets from the retirement fund.
Moser said about .12 percent of the counties $136 million portfolio is invested in Russia. This totals just under $183,000. The next steps for the county are to meet with PFM Asset Management, the county’s retirement investment consultant, to determine how to move forward with the matter in a “financially prudent and expedient” matter.
He added that all members of the board agree there is a “moral element” in divesting from Russia during this time, but they must also not take on any unnecessary risks with the county’s retirement fund as they do so. Moser will discuss the next steps with the commissioners after a meeting with PFM on Thursday.
“The violent dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has invaded the Ukraine on false pretenses,” Higgins said. “The heroic people of Ukraine are resisting the forces of the Russian dictator. We do not know if they are going to be successful. At the Pennsylvania county level, there is maybe not a lot we can do to make the dictator of Russia and his cronies pay for starting an unnecessary war, but we can, as we are going to discuss, divesting county funds including our retirement funds from companies headquartered in Russia, and I will join my fellow commissioners in urging that we do take this step this afternoon.”
This story appears in the March 3-9 edition of the Centre County Gazette.
