Over the last several years, the Retirement Board, which is comprised of Commissioners Joan Robinson-McMillen, John Sobel and Mark B. McCracken, Controller Tony Scotto and Treasurer Carol Fox, has updated the retirement fund investment policies to bring the best possible return of monies invested on behalf of the employees of Clearfield County Government.
Additionally, investment decisions have been implemented that have seen the retirement fund meet and exceed expected returns while at the same time lowering investment fees. As a result, the Clearfield County Retirement Fund has grown from having a stagnant value of between $13 million to $16 million in 2005 to the current value of more than $25 million.
The most recent actuarial report shows the fund rated as “very well-funded” based on actuarial standards. In the last year, the fund made $2.6 million with a net return of 11.8 percent, ranking the fund in the top 27 percent of public funds with less than $50 million in assets and over the past two years, the Clearfield County Fund is in the top 16 percent of public pension funds with less than $50 million in value. The total fund allocation currently has 50.31 percent in Domestic Equity, 15.83 percent in International Equity, 33.80 percent in Fixed Income and .06 percent in cash with all categories falling within the investment policy implemented by the Retirement Board.
The Retirement Board issued the following statement, “While the state government in Harrisburg is facing an ongoing pension funding shortfall of over $40 billion, here at the county level in Clearfield County, we are taking seriously our fiduciary responsibility to both the employees and the taxpayers by making wise investments that are seeing positive returns in spite of the fragile economy.
“We have an obligation first and foremost to protect the funds invested on behalf of our employees while at the same time insuring that the retirement fund has the necessary resources to pay all current and future financial obligations.”