Note 5. Long-term Incentive Plan

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Text Block]

Note 5. Long-term Incentive Plan

The purpose of the Avalon Holdings Corporation 2009 Long-term Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) is (a) to improve individual employee performance by providing long-term incentives and rewards to employees of Avalon, (b) to assist Avalon in attracting, retaining and motivating employees and non-employee directors with experience and ability, and (c) to associate the interests of such employees and directors with those of the Avalon shareholders. Under the Plan, 1,300,000 shares have been reserved for the issuance of stock options. During the first quarter of 2010, 980,000 stock options were granted under the Plan. Of these options granted, 450,000 were forfeited in February 2011 and 50,000 cancelled in March 2011. In March 2011, 280,000 stock options were granted under the Plan. The stock options, vest ratably over a five year period and have a contractual term of ten years from the date of grant. At the end of each contractual vesting period, the share price of the Avalon common stock, traded on a public stock exchange (NYSE Amex), must reach a predetermined price within three years following such contractual vesting period before the stock options are exercisable (See table below). If the Avalon common stock price does not reach the predetermined price, the stock options will either be cancelled or the period will be extended at the discretion of the Board of Directors.

The Monte Carlo Simulation was selected to determine the fair value because it incorporates six minimum considerations;  1) the exercise price of the option, 2) the expected term of the option, taking into account both the contractual term of the option, the effects of employees’ expected exercise and post-vesting employment termination behavior, as well as the possibility of change in control events during the contractual term of the option agreements, 3) the current fair value of the underlying equity, 4) the expected volatility of the value of the underlying share for the expected term of the option, 5) the expected dividends on the underlying share for the expected term of the option and 6) the risk-free interest rate(s) for the expected term of the option.

The expected term, or time until the option is exercised is typically based on historical exercising behavior of previous option holders of a company’s stock. Due to the fact that no options have been exercised as of yet, and therefore no historical exercising behavior available, an alternative method was used. Because of the nature of the vesting as described above, the options were separated into five blocks, with each block having its own vesting period and expected term. Assuming the vesting occurs ratably over the vesting period for each option block, the average vesting term (requisite service period) for each option block was calculated to be 2.54, 3.54, 4.54, 5.54 and 6.54 years for option blocks 1 through 5, respectively. As such, the expected terms were calculated to be 6.27, 6.77, 7.27, 7.77 and 8.27 years, for option blocks 1 through 5, respectively.

The current fair value of the underlying equity was determined to be equal to Avalon’s publicly traded stock price as of the grant dates times the sum of the Class A and Class B common shares outstanding.

The expected volatility was based on the observed volatility of Avalon common stock for a five year period prior to the grant dates. The expected volatility that was used ranged from 60.9% to 61.7% with a weighted average expected volatility of 61.2%.

There were no expected dividends and the risk-free interest rate(s), which ranged from 2.06% to 2.28%, were based on yield data for U. S. Treasury securities over a period consistent with the expected term.

The following information is a summary of the stock option activity:

Options outstanding at January 1, 2012	760,000
Options forfeited	0
Options cancelled	0
2012 Options granted	0
Total options outstanding at March 31, 2012	760,000
Options Vested	248,000
Options Exercisable	248,000

Number of	Weighted Average	Weighted Average
Options Granted	Exercise Price	Fair Value at Grant Date
760,000	$2.63	$1.09

The stock options vest and become exercisable based upon achieving two critical metrics as follows:

1) Contract Vesting Term:  The stock options vest ratably over a five year period.

2) The Avalon common stock price traded on a public stock exchange (NYSE Amex) must reach the predetermined vesting price within three years after the options become vested under the Contract Vesting Term.

The table below represents the period and predetermined stock price needed for vesting.

	Begins Vesting	Ends Vesting	Predetermined Vesting Price
Block 1	12 mo. after Grant Dates	48 mo. after Grant Dates	$	3.43
Block 2	24 mo. after Grant Dates	60 mo. after Grant Dates	$	4.69
Block 3	36 mo. after Grant Dates	72 mo. after Grant Dates	$	6.43
Block 4	48 mo. after Grant Dates	84 mo. after Grant Dates	$	8.81
Block 5	60 mo. after Grant Dates	96 mo. after Grant Dates	$	12.07

Compensation cost was approximately $153,000 and $41,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, based upon the estimated fair value calculation. The increase in compensation expense was due to the fact that during the first quarter of 2012, the predetermined vesting prices of $3.43 and $4.69 for the Avalon common stock were reached for Block 1 and Block 2.  Therefore, any options that had vested in Block 1 and Block 2 became exercisable and the remaining compensation expense relating to those exercisable options was recognized in the first quarter. The deferred tax benefit recorded was offset by an increase to the valuation allowance. As of March 31, 2012, there was $.4 million of total unrecognized compensation costs related to non-vested share-based compensation arrangements granted under the Plan. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 3.27 years.