Benton Rural Electric Association

“The organization is an electric distribution cooperative consisting of approximately 12,315 members who purchase electricity from the cooperative, and each has a Patronage Capital (equity) account based upon electrical usage.”

“The members elect the board of trustees which make up the governing body. The members approve the articles of incorporation and any changes thereto.”

“The members elect the board of trustees which make up the governing body. The members approve the articles of incorporation and any changes thereto.”

“The governing body did receive a copy of the 990 for review before it was filed. After the financials were audited the 990 was reviewed by the governing body at the regular June 2024 monthly board meeting. The Cooperative's independent auditors also received a copy of the 990 and it was reviewed by them before filing.”

“The Cooperative requires an annual survey for the prior year to be completed by all Trustees Officers, Key Employees, and Highly Compensated to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may have existed. Pursuant to the corporation bylaws section 3.04.3(a): In all circumstances, Trustees are under a continuing obligation to disclose to the full Board of Trustees any situation that presents the possibility of a conflict or disparity of interest either directly or indirectly between them and the Association.”

“Annually the cooperative participates in a regional survey to determine fair and competitive compensation of all non-union employees as compared to other utilities which hold similar positions. The CEO, top management officers highly compensated and key employees are among those positions in the survey. The percentage increase determined by the survey is included in the budget which is approved by the Board of Trustees. The CEO's wage increase is set by the Board. The latest survey was completed in Fall 2024.”

“The Benton Rural Electric Association is a not-for-profit member owned electric cooperative. As a private electric cooperative, the member owners of Benton REA have full access to financial statements, all policies and governing documents. All members receive a copy of the bylaws, which are also on the Benton REA website. Benton REA conducts and annual membership meeting, in which the annual financial statements are posted and presented to the membership. Plus, each Benton REA member receives a monthly magazine (Ruralite) that includes financial statements annually. Any margins the Benton REA has are allocated to the members who purchase electricity in that year, and those members receive a mailed notice of their allocation. A file of record in kept for each membership, which includes all allocations of margins and ay patronage capital payments made to the corresponding member.”

“To comply with the 2011 change to Part IX #4 "patronage dividends paid by section 501(c)(12) organization to their members", we have included the Cooperatives year ending net margins in the Statement of Functional Expense as benefits being paid to members. GAAP does not recognize this as an expense but is being reported as such to comply with the noted change. Pursuant to the Articles and Bylaws of the Cooperative, we fully allocate previous yar ending margins to the individual Patronage Capital accounts of the membership.”

“As part of being a not-for profit member owned cooperative, the Benton Rural Electric allocates any margins at year end. The Benton REA Board of Trustees then decides to retire all or a portion of those allocated margins. The cooperative as directed by the Board of Trustees have retired (paid to membership) a portion of the current allocated margins. This retirement results in a change to the Total Net Assets or Fund Balances ending amount. To comply with the 2011 Change to Part IX #4 we have netted the year ending margins against the retired portion of current allocated margins plus reacquired patronage capital (1,532,522-500,034+245,872=$1,278,360) this allows the cooperative to reconcile net assets for end of year 2024 line #10.”