Carbon County Retirement Board is increasing the interest rates on member accounts.

During the monthly meeting of the board this week, officials voted to set the 2016 interest rate on members' accounts at 5.5 percent.Before the vote, Robert Crampsie, county controller and secretary to the retirement board, explained his recommendation for the increase. By law, counties are required to set the interest rate between 4 and 5.5 percent.From 1992 to 2009, the county set the interest rate at 5.5 percent. When the economy took a hit in 2008 and the county started seeing big annual required contribution payments into the retirement fund, the interest rate steadily dropped down to 4 percent.Last year, the retirement board voted to increase the rate back up to 5.5 percent because the fund was performing well.Following the action, the board also decided that it will forgo giving a cost-of-living increase to retirees in 2016, but noted that recently passed legislation will now allow them to give one in 2017.Crampsie said the legislation amending the county pension law, which Gov. Tom Wolf signed on Nov. 24, takes effect 60 days after being signed, meaning half way through January.Crampsie said that the amendment removes the language that removes the language that require the county, if deciding to give a cost-of-living increase, to retroactively give increases for years that none were given. Carbon County last gave a cost-of-living increase in 2010.Based on the former legislation, a cost-of-living increase would cost the county up to $2.4 million. That number will drop now that legislation removed the requirement.The new legislation allows counties to give a cost-of-living raise based on that year, the consumer price index, and the county's retirement funded ratio."Unfortunately, the amendment will not affect 2016," Crampsie said. "But, I think we're all on the same page that next year we do want to address the cost-of-living raise.""They finally got it right," Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said of the Legislature passing the new law.Crampsie said last year the House and Senate came close to passing it, but for some reason stalled on the plan and moved it to 2015.Gerhard said that the board did take some heat when no raises were given last year based on how much is in the retirement fund portfolio, but retirees didn't understand that the law mandated the retroactive action."They get frustrated because they aren't getting one," Crampsie said of the retirees, noting that it is understandable because prices for goods and services continue to rise even though cost-of-living increases for Social Security and the county funds remained flat.In other matters, the county retirement portfolio is performing well.The fund, as of Nov. 30, stood at $71,791,113, down $310,665 from the end of October.