Carbon County's retirement portfolio rose over $6 million in 2012.

During the monthly meeting of the retirement board on Thursday, Robert Crampsie, county controller and secretary to the retirement board, announced that the portfolio value as of Dec. 31, was $63,409,980, up $6,631,121 from the beginning of 2012.Crampsie noted that the increase equates to a year-end performance rate of return of 11.68 percent, beating the annual actuarial assumption of 7.5 percent."So all-in-all even though in some cases it was a little bit of a roller coaster we ended up on a high note in regards to performance," Crampsie told the board.Following Crampsie's report, Michael Shone, president of Peirce Park Group Investment Management Consultants of West Chester, the company hired by the county to review current investment choices, spoke to the board about its decisions over the last four years.The report covered the changes the retirement board made to its investment strategies in 2008-2009, how those decisions worked with the changing market, observations of the current investment plan, and suggestions for possible changes that could be made to help with future financial growth.Shone noted that he felt Carbon's pension plan fund is in good financial condition.