CEO Message - Nov/Dec 2021
Cooperatives are not like other businesses. You, the members are also our owners. Capital credits represent your ownership in the Cooperative. Members are allocated capital credits based on their use (also called patronage) of Triangle’s services each year.
Allocations are a record of member ownership in the Cooperative, they are not the same as the payment of capital credits to members. We do not hold these funds in a bank account, they are used for capital building and operation activities such as fiber to the home upgrades.
Again, this year, the Triangle Telephone Board of Trustee decided to extend a capital credit discount offer to our members. A letter was sent out in August that advised Triangle members of the present worth or discounted amount of their capital credit account for the years of 1993 to 2020. If you chose to not receive the discounted amount, your capital credit balance will not change and will be held and distributed when the Board approves a future retirement.
The discounted offer allowed you to take the present value of your money, versus waiting until some future year to receive your funds. The rate at which the cooperative discounts those amounts are based on an IRS approved method to give the member a true value of the allocation being held by the cooperative at the current time. By giving you access to your funds now, you can take them and invest them yourself to achieve the same result or better than waiting for a general retirement that will take place years from now. Doing a discounted offer does not imply that Triangle is in financial trouble, to the contrary. It shows that we are giving the patronage back to you, our member to do with how you see fit at the present value of the capital credit that we are holding in your name.
In addition to the discounted capital credit offer, the Triangle Board approved a general retirement for those members who had service in 1992. If you have chosen to take advantage of the discount offer, the full 1992 capital credit amount will be included in the same check with the discounted offer. Those not participating in the discounted offer will receive a check for only the 1992 general retirement if you had service in 1992.
With the leadership of our Board of Trustees, our dedicated employees and our members, Triangle will be around to provide quality services to our membership well into the future.
Craig Gates, CEO
