Solid earnings during 2009 brought the Potter County Employees’ Retirement Fund back up above its pre-recession level, a fund manager reported on Thursday to members of County Retirement Board. The fund stood at $7.57 million entering 2009 and ended the year with a balance of $9.24 million. That erased the losses from the disastrous 2008 and the fund now has a balance slightly higher than its 2007 value. It’s up by 3.96 percent over the past five years and 6.93 percent over the past seven years.
“Recovering from the significant losses is good,” said Jeff Davidek from the fund management firm, C. S. McKee of Pittsburgh. “But what you want to do is realize positive returns in your plan . . . We believe that the economy on 2008 was a deviation — something that is very rare. We do expect to see some solid growth in 2010, although we do not anticipate returns similar to those of 2009. One question mark is how the economy will transition from the (federal government) stimulus to a more traditional economy.”
C. S. McKee was commended by the Retirement Board for management strategies that allowed the Potter County Employees’ Retirement Fund to experience stronger 2009 gains in three major investment categories when compared to standard indexes such as the Standard & Poor’s 500, the EAFE international equity index and the BC Aggregate Benchmark (fixed income).
Retirement Board members are Commissioners Doug Morley, Susan Kefover and Paul Heimel, Treasurer Krista Miller, and Chief Clerk Todd Brown.
