A report in the Altoona Mirror indicates that county leaders announced that the pension plan increased 7.3% since the beginning of the year, even with the threat of a recession. The retirement board was given the news yesterday by a vice president of marquette associates. The news was all good, in the fact that there is no recession forecast through the end of the year, which could potentially mean even better news for the pension plan. As of July 28th, the pension plan had assets of $34.4 million.