Defined Pension Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 9 – Defined Pension Plans

The Company has a noncontributory defined benefit pension plan, which covers most of its employees. The Company accrues and makes contributions designed to fund normal service costs on a current basis using the projected unit credit with service proration method to amortize prior service costs arising from improvements in pension benefits and qualifying service prior to the establishment of the plan over a period of approximately 30 years. Disclosure information is based on a measurement date of December 31 of the corresponding year. The following table represents the components of the net periodic pension costs:

	Estimated			Actual
(In thousands)	2012			2011
Service cost – benefits earned during the year	$	2,986		$	2,073
Interest cost on projected benefit obligation		2,588			2,423
Expected return on plan assets		(3,967	)		(3,314	)
Net amortization and deferral		1,504			603
Net periodic pension cost	$	3,111		$	1,785

Pension costs recorded to expense were $1,011,000 and $415,000 for the three-month periods ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and totaled $2,341,000 and $1,347,000 for the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The Company made a contribution of $750,000 to the plan during the three-month period ended September 30, 2012, for a total of $2,250,000 for the nine-month period ending September 30, 2012, and expects to contribute at least an additional $750,000 in 2012.

In addition to the above funded benefit plan, the Company has an unfunded supplemental executive retirement plan which covers key executives of the Company. This is a noncontributory plan in which the Company and its subsidiaries make accruals designed to fund normal service costs on a current basis using the same method and criteria as its defined benefit plan. The following table represents the components of the net periodic pension costs for 2011 and an estimate for 2012:

	Estimated		Actual
(In thousands)	2012		2011
Service cost – benefits earned during the year	$	134	$	89
Interest cost on projected benefit obligation		329		295
Net amortization		422		250
Net periodic pension cost	$	885	$	634

Pension costs recorded to expense were $224,000 and $159,000 for the three-month periods ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and were $671,000 and $476,000 for the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.