Trustee Message – February 2020

“… in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
—BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 1789

As one of, if not the, largest businesses headquartered in Marlboro County, Marlboro Electric Cooperative is more than just an electric company.

Like all businesses, we proudly pay our fair share of taxes—a sum that results in significant impacts on both Marlboro and Dillon counties. In fact, property taxes paid by MEC and our affiliates support public schools, road construction and the salaries and benefits of our police, firefighters and other first responders. These services and the people behind them help make the communities we serve a better place to live, work and raise a family.

In 2019, Marlboro Electric paid more than $1.1 million in property taxes: $877,099.10 to Marlboro County Marlboro and $283,281.90 to Dillon County. This makes us one of the largest contributors to the tax base in either county.

What’s more, during the past decade, Marlboro Electric paid more than $8.5 million in property taxes to Marlboro County and more than $2.7 million in property taxes to Dillon County.

In addition to the taxes paid by Marlboro Electric, Central Electric Power Cooperative—the MEC co-owned wholesale power aggregator for the state’s electric co-ops—paid property taxes of more than $176,000 to Marlboro County and more than $36,000 to Dillon County.

While we serve more than 6,500 consumers in Marlboro and Dillon counties, Marlboro Electric is a non-for-profit and does not pay corporate income taxes. Rather, as a member-owned co-op, we return all proceeds (revenue that exceeds operating expenses) to our members in the form of capital credits. Happily, in 2019, our proceeds enabled us to return $348,628.88 in capital credits to you, our members. This marks one of the highest years on record for capital credit returns to our members, while having lowered rates for six years in a row and becoming the state’s lowest power provider. Lower rates and larger checks are meant to show you that your co-op is running efficiently, smoothly and on all cylinders to create value and benefit for you, our owners!

Along with law enforcement, road maintenance and our school systems, property tax payments underwrite government and municipal salaries, as well as provide funding for our parks and recreation areas. As part of our commitment to you, our members, we are honored to play a significant role in funding these community services and helping to improve this place we all call home.

John Alford
District 5 Trustee