Baldwin EMC officials announced today that the cooperative has completed the payment of more than $2.7 million in taxes. This includes payroll, property, revenue and city license taxes. The city license tax payments were delivered in person by Baldwin EMC board members and employees this month.

Baldwin EMC carries a not-for-profit status, but according to Chief Executive Officer E.A. “Bucky” Jakins, Jr., that doesn’t mean the cooperative is tax-free. “That not-for-profit status for Baldwin EMC means we only take in enough money to run the cooperative. Anything else is refunded to our members. It doesn’t mean we don’t have to pay taxes.”

Jakins says Baldwin EMC actually pays a tax of 3 percent on gross revenue from members who live in a municipality’s city limits. A tax of 1.5 percent is paid on gross revenue from members in a municipality’s police jurisdiction.

This year’s tax payments totaled $2,701,605.

Baldwin EMC is a member-owned electric cooperative serving approximately 68,000 meters in Baldwin and Monroe Counties in southwest Alabama, including Alabama’s Gulf Coast.