Attach to Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Information about Schedule O (Form 990 or 990-EZ) and its instructions is at| Return Reference | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 6 | There is one class of members which all have the same voting rights. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 7a | Members vote for all open positions in all districts that are up for election that year. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 7b | Changes to bylaws or articles of incorporation must be approved by members of the Cooperative. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 8b | There are no committees that have authority to act on behalf of the governing body. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 11 | The General Manager and Business Manager reviewed a draft of the Form 990. The Form 990 was presented at a board meeting prior to filing with the IRS. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 12c | Directors and management must annually complete a form to disclose any conflicts they might have. The President of the Board reviews the disclosures. For each instance disclosed, the President has discretion to take no action, assure full disclosure to the full board and management, ask the person to recuse him or herself from discussions or decisions relating to the conflict or ask the person to resign. The General Manager monitors proposed or ongoing conflicts and discloses them to the Board President. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 15 | The Board annually uses a salary survey made available through the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives. The salary deliberation is documented in the minutes. The Board votes on the compensation. This process was last undertaken in October 2015. Compensation for the Business Manager is determined based on Business Manager salaries at other cooperatives across North Dakota, taking into account the results of the ND Association of REC's Wage and Salary Survey. In addition, the Business Manager's years of service to the Cooperative are considered. This process was last undertaken in October 2015. The Board approves all wages. For non-union employees the General Manager makes a recommendation, and the Board votes to approve. For union members, the union negotiates directly with the Board and the General Manager. When an agreement is reached the Board will formally approve the new wage scale. This process was last undertaken in September 2015. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section C, line 19 | The governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available upon request. |
| Form 990, Part VII, Section A, Column (F) | Included in column "f", estimated amount of other compensation, is the estimated annual increase in the actuarial value of the defined benefit plan. The estimated increase for Tori Kling is $7,500; the amount for Lori Opdahl is unavailable. These amounts are estimates in the increase of the value of the plan and are not current year expenses of the cooperative. The current year expense for this defined benefit plan was $10,145 and $4,409, respectively. |
| Form 990, Part IX, Statement Of Functional Expenses, Line 24e | Allocated Costs: The labor, pension, and payroll taxes reported on lines 5-10 are already included in distribution expense, administrative & general expense and customer expense. Therefore, these amounts are being subtracted out as an other deduction on line 24e in the amount of $(3,686,187). |
| Form 990, Part X, Line 4: | The Cooperative has interpreted the instructions to Part IX, Line 4, to mean patronage capital allocated for the year, rather than patronage capital retired. This is consistent with the Bylaws of the Cooperative. |
| Form 990, Part XI, line 9: | Retirement of Capital Credits -446,500. Patronage Capital Credits Allocated For Current Year 1,222,844. |
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