Carbon County's retirement fund had an impressive year.

On Thursday, Robert Crampsie, county controller and secretary to the retirement, reported the retirement fund portfolio performance for the year.The portfolio value as of Dec. 9 was $73 million, up around $1.5 million from the previous report on Nov. 30.He said the portfolio's year-to-date rate of return is 9.6 percent, a half percent higher than the policy index set by the actuary."In speaking with Mike Shone (president of the Peirce Park Group Investment Management Consultants of West Chester), out of his 38 clients, Carbon County is in the top 1 percent for performance return," Crampsie said.He said the fund added more than $6.5 million since the beginning of the year overall, and dispersed more than $4 million of that in benefits."I think we had a good year, not only performance wise, we did a lot within the portfolio to put us in a position that when the market is going to have returns like we've seen this year that we are going to take advantage of those returns," Crampsie said."I think we made some wise decisions. We continue as a board to look out for the best interest of the retirement fund, and I think that's our fiduciary responsibility, and I think we're meeting it."