District Cooling St Paul Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411637962
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2013
Forms available
Form 990 2013
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6512978955
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Utilities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,516,965
Expenses
$12,623,469
Assets
$53,771,171
Liabilities
$64,002,191

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KENNETH SMITH (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KENNETH SMITH (PRESIDENT): $555,385 total reported compensation
  • WILLIAM MAHLUM (EVP - GENERAL COUNSEL): $413,071 total reported compensation
  • ANDERS RYDAKER (EVP - SUSTAINABLE ENERGY S): $357,376 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To develop, construct, and operate a district cooling system to serve the central business district and adjacent areas of the city of st. Paul, Minnesota that provides benefits to our customers, community and the environment.

What it reported doing in 2013

District cooling st paul provides service to 110 customers totaling over 20 million square feet in downtown saint paul. Chilled water services are provided year-round for air conditioning offices, homes, health care facilities, laboratories, and computer server storage. This year we continued our work to improve system efficiencies and upgrade technology that will help us to provide the most accurate data for our system and customers. District cooling reduces the use of ozone-depleting refrigerants and reduces potable water usage at the building. By utilizing thermal storage, we are able to reduce the summer strain on the electrical grid by chilling water at night, using off-peak electricity. Among our new customers, we were proud to add two projects that are going to be a great addition for the community. We are serving the custom house residential redevelopment and the new chs field, the home of the saint paul saints baseball team.in 2014, district cooling st. Paul laid the groundwork for the saint paul ecodistrict, a science, technology, and education platform established to promote sustainability and inform the community. This work is being led by a group of local civic partners, including the city of saint paul, saint paul rivercentre and xcel energy center, science museum of Minnesota, and visit saint paul. The initial phase of the project was completed, with the launch of new tour signage for the district energy plant and window education signage to educate the local community and visitors. Additional education work was committed to advance energy comprehension for local legislators and government officials. This included tours, presentations, seminars, and participation in local advisory groups addressing the changing energy needs in the city of saint paul and state of Minnesota.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.9%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 89.2%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.6%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.26; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.19; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.9% of revenue deployed · 89.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $555K · 21 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $777K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2010 to 2013
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 7 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.