The Carbon County Retirement Fund took a hit in June, but has slowly been increasing in value this month.

During the monthly meeting of the county retirement board on Thursday, Robert Crampsie, county controller and secretary of the retirement board, announced that the retirement portfolio value as of June 30 was $56,171,040, down over $845,000 from the end May.Crampsie then reported that the overall value is improving.As of July 14, the portfolio value was up to $58,272,222."For the month of July, we're up $2.1 million, however, $1 million was the (county's) annual required contribution," Crampsie said, noting that this means that the value is up about $1.1 million overall for July.The county's portfolio has been in a very rocky trend as of late due to an unstable stock market.The very volatile stock market, which began in 2008 as a result of the shaky economy, brought the retirement fund down to a starting balance of $47,684,152 and left the county with a negative-24 percent return in 2008.The downward spiral continued through February 2009 but ended in March 2009, when Carbon County posted its first positive month in a long time. Since then, the retirement fund portfolio has been performing rather well, having only a few decreases over the last year.In April, the portfolio hit the $60 million mark briefly before being hit hard in May and again in June.The county is still down over $8 million from its high of $65 million in 2007.