Dukes County Contributory Retirement System

The five-member retirement board holds fiduciary authority over investment policy, with day-to-day management executed by Executive Director Kelly McCracken. The board includes elected and appointed members — typically current or retired municipal finance officers — and meets quarterly to review allocations. For the roughly 52% of assets invested in PRIT, portfolio decisions are delegated to PRIM's investment staff under the oversight of the PRIM Board.

The system employs a hybrid structure dividing assets into two pools. Approximately 52% goes into the PRIT Core Fund managed by the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, providing diversified exposure across global equities, fixed income, private equity, and real assets. The remaining assets are managed locally, with confirmed holdings in cash equivalents and PRIT's pooled commercial real estate funds. Specific allocations outside PRIT are not publicly disclosed by the local board.

DCCRS is one of many local Massachusetts retirement systems that invest through PRIM's PRIT fund, pooling their assets with those of the state teachers' and employees' systems. This relationship gives smaller systems like Dukes County access to institutional asset classes and manager relationships they could not access independently. The PRIT fund exceeds $100 billion in total assets, with local systems like DCCRS holding pro-rata shares.

The system covers employees of 15 member units across Dukes County, including the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, Martha's Vineyard Transit Authority, and the county government itself, along with municipal departments in towns such as Tisbury and Edgartown. Membership is mandatory for eligible public employees under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 32.

Yes, alongside its PRIT allocation, DCCRS maintains a locally managed portfolio. This sleeve includes cash and cash equivalents held directly, plus participation in PRIT's pooled commercial real estate funds. The local board retains full discretion over this portion, unlike the PRIT allocation where investment management is outsourced to PRIM.