however, there have been proposals to enact a severance tax, none of which were adopted, in both the Pennsylvania Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Environmental Resources Committees, and lawmakers may propose other taxes in the future. If adopted, such taxes would be a post-production cost that is borne by the Trust.
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The Trust bears 100% of Trust administrative expenses, including fees paid to the Trustee and the Delaware Trustee and an annual administrative services fee of $60,000 payable to Greylock Production.
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The Trust is also responsible for paying other expenses, including costs associated with annual and quarterly reports to unitholders, tax return and Schedule K-1 preparation and distribution, independent auditor fees and registrar and transfer agent fees.
The amount of costs and expenses borne by the Trust may vary materially from quarter-to-quarter. The extent by which the costs and expenses described above are higher or lower in any quarter will directly decrease or increase the amount received by the Trust and available for distribution to the unitholders.
The Trust has established a cash reserve for contingent liabilities and to pay expenses in accordance with the Trust Agreement, which would reduce net profits payable to the Trust and distributions to Trust unitholders.
The Trust’s source of capital is the cash flows from the Royalty Interests. Pursuant to the Trust Agreement, the Trust may establish a cash reserve through the withholding of cash for contingent liabilities and to pay expenses, which will reduce the amount of cash otherwise available for distribution to unitholders.
Commencing with the distribution paid to unitholders in the first quarter of 2019, the Trustee has been gradually building a cash reserve for the payment of future expenses and liabilities to approximately $1.8 million by withholding cash reserve amounts from each quarterly distribution equal to the greater of $90,000 or 10% of the amount distributable to unitholders. Accordingly, in addition to previously withheld funds of $220,634, in 2020 and 2019 the Trustee withheld $360,000 and $395,916, respectively, from the funds otherwise available for distribution, for an aggregate amount of $976,550. These withholdings are in addition to the existing cash reserve of $0.5 million, which is determined prior to the payments of quarterly expenses.
The Trustee may increase or decrease the targeted amount at any time, and may increase or decrease the rate at which it is withholding funds to build the cash reserve at any time, without advance notice to the unitholders. After the approximately $1.8 million has been withheld, the Trustee will have cash reserves of approximately $2.3 million. Cash held in reserve will be invested as required by the trust agreement. Any cash reserved in excess of the amount necessary to pay or provide for the payment of future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities eventually will be distributed to unitholders, together with interest earned on the funds.
A decrease in the differential between the price realized by Greylock Production for natural gas produced from the Underlying Properties and the NYMEX or other benchmark price of natural gas could reduce the proceeds to the Trust and therefore the cash distributions by the Trust and the value of Trust units.
During the first few years of the Trust’s existence, prices received for natural gas production from Trust properties exceeded the relevant benchmark prices, such as NYMEX; however, since 2014 the prices received have been lower than the benchmark prices, and this dynamic could continue in the future. The difference between the price received and the benchmark price is called a differential. The differential may vary significantly due to market conditions, the quality and location of production and other factors. Greylock Production cannot accurately predict natural gas differentials. Further decreases in the differential between the realized price of natural gas and the benchmark price for natural gas could reduce the proceeds to the Trust and, accordingly, reduce the cash distributions by the Trust and the value of the Trust units.
The Trust has no hedges in place to protect against the price risk inherent in holding interest in natural gas, a commodity that is frequently characterized by significant price volatility.
At the formation of the Trust, approximately fifty percent of the estimated natural gas production attributable to the Royalty Interests was hedged from April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2014. From inception