Wiregrass Electric Cooperative

“Wiregrass Electric Cooperative is a not-for-profit membership organization whose members have identical voting rights and are assigned margins in accordance with the cooperative's bylaws.”

“At each annual meeting, trustees are elected by the cooperative membership to succeed those whose terms have expired.”

“The membership must approve decisions that involve substantial transfers of cooperative assets, amendments to the cooperative's bylaws, as well as other decisions requiring approval of the membership by law, the articles of incorporation, and/or the cooperative's bylaws.”

“The Form 990 was reviewed by management and the accounting staff at Wiregrass Electric Cooperative before it was provided to the trustees. An electronic or paper copy of the Form 990 was then provided to the trustees prior to filing the form with the Internal Revenue Service. They have ten days to comment on the 990 before filing.”

“Once per year, each director and key management employee receive a questionnaire to be completed and returned regarding this policy. The CEO makes sure every questionnaire is returned and reviewed every year. If a conflict of interest were to appear, he would address it or bring it to the board to be addressed, depending on the situation.”

“The process for determining compensation for the CEO and other key employees is as follows: The Board utilizes the Annual Compensation Survey from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) to assess CEO compensation. Each year, the NRECA surveys over 800 electric distribution cooperatives and publishes the findings. Additionally, AREA distributes a Wage and Salary survey, which factors into the evaluation process. The full Board reviews these materials, deliberates, records its vote, and delegates implementation of approved CEO compensation changes to the Vice President of Human Resources and Administrative Services. All other employee positions are classified according to the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities. Compensation determinations are made without regard to race, sex, age, ethnicity, disability, religion, or veteran status. Annually, when the NRECA Compensation Survey is released, the Vice President of Human Resources and Administrative Services updates a spreadsheet for each non-union position. This spreadsheet maps each position to its corresponding job code in the NRECA Defined Benefit Plan and contains data reported each November. Spreadsheet data points constitute the pay ranges for each position and correspond to job codes, including, but not limited to, the National Average, National Average for cooperatives of similar size, Regional Average for comparable cooperatives, and, where available, the state average. Not all positions have statistically valid benchmarks across every data point. In addition to averages, percentiles such as the 10th, 25th, 75th, 90th, and the median are considered where appropriate. WEC participates in the AREA Wage Survey and monitors Alabama state averages for each position as available. It is important to note that participation in this voluntary survey varies, with only 16-18 of the 22 Alabama cooperatives consistently contributing. While NRECA survey results are available by March for the annual June pay and performance evaluations, AREA state data typically becomes available in July or later, often lagging a year behind the national survey. Nonetheless, AREA State data can offer valuable context for evaluating pay ranges and outliers, and spreadsheets are updated to incorporate these figures for future assessments. Employees who demonstrate the necessary experience, knowledge, skill, ability, and soft skills to fully perform positional duties are generally placed at or near the scale average. Pay scales are revised annually in advance of employee evaluations. Each non-union employee is individually assessed by their supervisor, based on a template that incorporates feedback on strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Using these evaluations and recommendations from the CEO and Vice President of Human Resources and Administrative Servicessupported by compensation survey dataannual pay adjustments are made within the board-approved budget. During the annual evaluation period, updated compensation spreadsheets are made available to the Board President or their designee upon request for review and discussion. Summaries of pay totals and changes are provided to the Board annually through the budget process and via monthly financial reports included in Board meeting materials. Union positions are defined and graded through negotiation with union representatives, with bargaining sessions occurring every five years. Union employees receive annual performance evaluations and compensation increases in accordance with the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement pay scale.”

“These documents are available upon request at the cooperative's main office in Hartford, Alabama. Also, the governing documents are posted on the company's website- www.wiregrass.coop”

“The instructions to the Form 990 indicate that organizations exempt under Section 501 (c)(12) should report patronage dividends paid to their members in Part IX, Line 4 of the Form 990. Wiregrass Electric Cooperative has interpreted the words "patronage dividends paid" in the instructions to mean margins that are assigned or assignable to the members. Wiregrass Electric Cooperative assigns the net margins to its members each year. Therefore, the amount listed in Part IX, Line 4 represents the net margins assignable to the members.”

“Retirement of Capital Credits -2,592,956. Gain on Retirement of Capital Credits 686,308. Assignment of net margins to members 2,313,854. Revenue Deferral 3,200,000. Change in Memberships 1,770. Tax Refunds 381,017.”

“Wiregrass Electric Cooperative's financial statement year end differs from its tax year end. The cooperative receives audited financial statements on an annual basis for the year ended April 30th.”