Live preview — download the board-ready PDF to attach to your minutes.Download the free PDF
Email yourself a copy:
PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Ridge Utilities Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 546041501
VA · NTEE Y22
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Curt Heidel, Executive Director / CEO ($43,600) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 15 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 80th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Curt Heidel — reported title “GENERAL MANA”, selected as the organization's highest-paid individual — no exact title match, so confirm this is a comparable role.

How comparable organizations were selected

15 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 15 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$501 total compensation of comparable organizations → $136,337 $43,600
$62610th
$96825th
$12,534Median
$21,72575th
$51,47690th
$43,600This org · 80th
p10$626
p25$968
p50$12,534
p75$21,725
p90$51,476
$43,600

Comparable organizations

Each figure is Form 990 Part VII columns D + F (reportable pay plus other compensation and benefits; column F may include amounts from related organizations), normalized to VA cost of living (BEA RPP, 2023) and to its filing year (CPI-U); the reported amount is on each linked 990.

OrganizationStateRevenueMatched titleComp
(reported)
Comp
(adjusted)
FY
Southside Mutual Domestic NM$394,397 President $450 $501 2024
Burgess Canal & Irrigation Co ID$407,580 Secretary $15,333 $16,458 2025
Calhoun County Water Association Inc AR$348,739 President $550 $640 2024
Old Union Water Association Inc MS$416,814 President $520 $617 2023
Richmond Irrigation & Power Company UT$419,625 Water Master $25,464 $26,992 2024
Belah-fellowship Water System Inc LA$420,011 President $1,200 $1,408 2023
Broadwater-missouri MT$339,212 Secretary $12,227 $13,650 2024
International Foundation For IL$317,314 Managing Dir $133,900 $136,337 2024
Russell Utilities Inc MS$449,253 President $590 $663 2025
Anderson Township Regional Sewer District IN$292,105 Superintendent $49,402 $55,550 2023
Wrp Inc FL$275,842 General Manager Dwu $13,224 $12,534 2025
Kinsman Mutual Telephone Company IL$268,030 Sec-tres, Di $44,555 $45,366 2024
Friendship Community Water System MS$507,446 President $1,200 $1,384 2024
Mapleton Irrigation Company UT$510,917 President $1,200 $1,272 2024
Fhlm Regional Water Supply TX$544,377 Secretary/treasurer $14,400 $15,359 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to VA cost of living and 2024 dollars. Click any organization to verify the figure on ProPublica.

Methodology

Comparable organizations were drawn from electronically filed IRS Form 990 returns and matched on sector (NTEE code), budget (a size-adaptive revenue band that tightens as the organization grows), and geography (same-state first, broadening only when too few peers qualify); every organization within the band forms the peer set. To compare fairly across regions and years, peer compensation is normalized to VA cost of living (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2023) and to the subject's filing year (CPI-U). The figure benchmarked is Form 990 Part VII, Section A, columns D + F — reportable pay plus other compensation, benefits, and deferred amounts (column F may include amounts from related organizations) — with the chief executive matched by role. Related-organization amounts (column E) and institutional trustees are excluded. Full methodology: peerbasis.org/methodology.

Sample, role match & sensitivity

Sensitivity — the subject's percentile under alternative compensation definitions:

BasisSubject percentile
Total compensation (D + F), cost-of-living + inflation adjusted — the PeerBasis default80th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)80th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted80th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted73rd

If the percentile moves materially across these definitions, the result is sensitive to methodology choices, and the board should weigh which basis best fits its facts.

Rebuttable presumption of reasonableness · 26 CFR 53.4958-6

Compensation paid by a tax-exempt organization is presumed reasonable — shifting the burden to the IRS — when three requirements are met. This report supplies the comparability data for the second. The board should record the following in its minutes concurrently with its decision:

Draft board minutes — executive compensation

  1. The compensation of the Executive Director / CEO (Curt Heidel) was approved in advance by [the Board / Compensation Committee], composed of members with no conflict of interest with respect to the arrangement.
  2. Prior to its determination, the authorized body obtained and relied upon appropriate comparability data, namely the PeerBasis Compensation Comparability Determination dated June 9, 2026, comparing compensation against 15 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (Y22), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $43,600 is reasonable (approximately the 80th percentile of comparable organizations) and documented the basis for this determination concurrently, on [date], by a vote of [__ for / __ against].

Sources: IRS Form 990 e-file data (apps.irs.gov); IRS Business Master File (NTEE classification). Every figure traces to an original public filing — click any organization above to verify it on ProPublica. PeerBasis is a service of Prismind Analytics; its methodology is published, was commissioned for independent adversarial review, and discloses its own limitations. This report is comparability data to support a board's good-faith determination under IRC 4958; it is not legal or tax advice. Generated by PeerBasis on June 9, 2026.