Potter County Employee Retirement Fund Rebounds To All-Time High

An investment manager meeting with the Potter County Retirement Board announced this week that the county employees’ retirement fund is at an all-time high balance, after weathering the storm that saw its value plummet in 2008. “There are a lot of plans that acted out of fear and moved into safer options,” said Jeff Davidek, representing C. S. McKee. “We were confident that the strategy we put in place to adapt to the economic trends was a sound one  . . . We try to minimize volatility through diversification.”

Behind all of the Wall Street complexities that Davidek shared was good news for county taxpayers, in that the threat of a higher annual required contributon (ARC) has been lessened by the fund’s rebound to a balance of $9.83 million as of Oct. 1. That tops the previous record high of $9.6 million hit in 2007.

C. S. McKee is a Pittsburgh-based investment management firm retained by about two-thirds of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Retirement Board members include Commissioners Susan Kefover, Doug Morley and Paul Heimel, County Treasurer Krista Miller and Chief Commissioners Clerk Todd Brown. Board members gave C.S. McKee a vote of confidence at this week’s meeting, after acknowledging that they’re regularly approached by competitors seeking to manage the retirement fund.