By Kelly Marshall Fuller

Kfuller@gtowntimes.com

A request for more information about payments made to the board of Santee Electric Co-op has been answered.

The information included in the response sent from Kingstree resident Tommy Stuckey regarding reimbursements and pay given to board members was not immediately available.

The Georgetown Times is requesting a copy of the response from Stuckey’s attorney Nelson Chandler.

“We responded to his lawyer,” Santee Electric Co-op board attorney Ronnie Sabb said Tuesday. “We answered all of the questions that he asked.”

Stuckey said he has received word from Chandler telling him that Sabb responded to the letter.

Stuckey said he could not comment on the response from Sabb until he talked with

Chandler.

“I would rather not discuss it at the moment,’’ Stuckey said.

“We did receive the response Monday and are in the process of reviewing it now,’’ Chandler said.

Questions raised

The original request from Chandler asked about money received by the Santee Electric Cooperative board of trustees last year for a program no longer allowed by the Internal Revenue Service.

The money, reflected on the cooperative’s 2008 financial information provided to the Internal Revenue Service, indicates that the trustees received between $14,152 and $185,083 in 2008.

According to information from the tax exempt organization, the compensation for at least one member of the board was $185,083.

 Other board members received $14,152, $187,071, $179,889, $174,489, $184,819, $167,645, $180,213 and $120,061.

Compensation for the trustees for 2007 was listed as being around $28,000 to $54,000 for each member.The hours listed that they put in 2007, per week, to the board was around five to six hours.

During an annual meeting of Santee Electric Co-op, held last month, information was given that said the trustees received $450 per diem for attending once a month meetings.

Floyd Keels, CEO of Santee Electric Co-op, said the additional compensation money listed in 2007 was given to board members for extra meetings and travel expenses. He said the board members do attend meetings out of town and around the United States.

Keels said the program that was disbanded in 2008, which elevated compensation levels to much higher during that year, was an “unqualified plan.”

The program was a 409A, which is no longer allowed by the IRS, he said.

“Our board decided it was in the interest of Santee at the time to discontinue the plan,’’ Keels said. “It was not a plan that was funded by external monies. It was self-funded, like an insurance policy.”

He said the plan was once used as a recruitment tool for key employees, and was in place since August 1989. Board members were also allowed to participate, he said.

“This plan allowed me to have a supplement at Santee, to compensate for what I gave up at CP & L,” Keels said. “It was a benefit policy that would supplement  you after you retire.”

A pool of money was available to put into the self-funded plan, Keels said. When the plan was disbanded, the trustees and some employees received the money in a one-time payment, he said.

The Freedom of Information request asked:

• What is the per diem rate for board members and is the rate the same, if the board members spend a full day, or part of a day on coop business?

• What expenses are reimbursed and is there a limit to the amount of expenses submitted to each board member?

• The co-op is a nonprofit, so what is the mileage allowance and is there other set rates for other expenses?

• How are the board members reimbursed, do they submit expense reports?

• What is considered a reasonable per diem allowance, what does that allowance covered and how is that allowance accounted for?

• How many board meetings took place in town in 2009?

•  How many out of town meetings that were attended by out of town members took place in 2009, and which board members attended them?