The Butler County pension fund rose nearly $5 million in three months.

The fund, which is mostly in the form of investments, increased from $178 million in May to $182.8 million as of Aug. 22.

County Treasurer Diane Marburger attributed the increase in the pension fund to diversification.

“Not putting all our eggs in one basket,” Marburger said.

The county retirement board, which is comprised of the three county commissioners, controller and treasurer, in recent years shifted from using active money managers to indexing.

Unlike funds overseen by active managers who typically make riskier investments to outperform the average return, indexing adheres to the average, or benchmark, of each asset class.

Controller Ben Holland agreed the pension fund gains were due to making less volatile investments.

Holland also cited a healthy stock market as another cause.

“The market continues to go up,” he said. “We’ve benefited from that.”

However, Holland said the market eventually has to decline, so indexing will mitigate any future losses.

According to the most recent actuary report, the county’s pension fund is 85.6 percent funded. Holland said the actual number should be higher.

The recommended goal for government pension funds is 80 percent.

As of June 30, 563 county employees were enrolled in the pension plan with 498 retirees or beneficiaries receiving monthly payments.

From January through March, the county paid an average of $681,953 each month, or an average of $1,370 per recipient.