Carbon County's retirement fund is in good shape, officials report.

During the monthly meeting of the county retirement board on Thursday, Robert Crampsie, county controller and secretary to the retirement board, and Michael Shone, president of the Peirce Park Group Investment Management Consultants of West Chester, agreed that Carbon's retirement fund is secure.Crampsie reported that the first quarter performance is slightly lower than the actuarial assumption, but overall is seeing growth.Over the first three months of the year, the county retirement fund grew $1,034,980, from the adjusted beginning balance of $73,470,905, to $74,505,885 at the end of March."That equates to a year-to-date of return of 1.41 percent," Crampsie said, noting that that is a little below the actuarial assumption of 7.5 percent for the year."We should be around 1.8 percent but we still have a lot of time to make it up."He added that he received the annual actuarial report from the Hay Group and highlighted two items: the annual required contribution and the funded ratio.Crampsie said that for the last few years the county has budgeted more than the certified ARC payment because last quarter performances have helped lower the payment into the fund. Last year the estimated ARC payment was $452,689 and when it came time to actually pay it, the final bill was $137,755."We are like 70 percent below what was originally estimated," he said. "That's a good thing."On the funded ratio, Crampsie said that the retirement fund is 104 percent funded."That is great," he said, "It's almost unheard of. Some systems are below 80 percent funded."The funded ratio is affected on the county's liabilities and the economic markets, as well as county actions such as hirings and salary increases. The higher the liabilities, the lower the funded ratio.Shone, who was there to provide a report on the overall performance of the retirement fund, commented on Crampsie's reports, saying that out of all the county actuarial reports his company handled when creating a statewide database, Carbon's was "one of the best funded plans.""You're one of maybe five or six counties that are above 100 percent funded in the state," he said. "You really should be commended with how you handle the totality of things."He noted that it is all about managing liabilities and Carbon has been making sure they have the assets available to fulfill promises and have made wise decisions to keep liabilities lower."We're proud of that," Commissioner William O'Gurek said."To be in the top five, that's impressive," Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard added. "It shows everyone working together. I am extremely proud of the job we've done."In other matters, Crampsie reported that House Bill 239 is moving and he is hopeful that it will be acted on this year.The bill, which also has a Senate version on the floor, deals with legislation on how counties give cost-of-living increases to retirees.Currently, if the county would decide to give retirees a cost-of-living increase, it would be required to catch up every year that no raise was given, adding to the liability.Previously, Crampsie said cost-of-living raises increase the liabilities and increase the county's annual contribution into the fund.The legislation proposes that counties would be able to give a cost-of-living raise for just one year. The bill was reintroduced this year after the former bill died at the end of the year because no action had been taken on it.Crampsie said that hopefully the House and Senate will be able to come up with something to help the counties.