EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

NOTE 5 - EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

The Company has a defined benefit pension plan covering substantially all full-time and eligible part-time associates and a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”) covering its executive officers.

The components of the net periodic benefit cost for the Company's qualified benefit pension plan were as follows:

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
(Dollars in Thousands)	2016		2015		2016		2015
Service Cost	$	1,613	$	1,715	$	4,839	$	5,145
Interest Cost		1,397		1,438		4,191		4,313
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(1,934)		(1,955)		(5,802)		(5,865)
Prior Service Cost Amortization		69		77		207		232
Net Loss Amortization		801		891		2,403		2,673
Net Periodic Benefit Cost	$	1,946	$	2,166	$	5,838	$	6,498

Discount Rate		4.52%		4.15%		4.52%		4.15%
Long-term Rate of Return on Assets		7.50%		7.50%		7.50%		7.50%

The components of the net periodic benefit cost for the Company's SERP were as follows:

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
(Dollars in Thousands)	2016		2015		2016		2015
Interest Cost	$	40	$	34	$	120	$	101
Prior Service Cost Amortization		-		2		-		5
Net Loss Amortization		190		44		570		134
Net Periodic Benefit Cost	$	230	$	80	$	690	$	240

Discount Rate		4.13%		4.15%		4.13%		4.15%

Effective December 31, 2015, the Company changed the method used to estimate the service and interest components of net periodic benefit cost for the defined benefit and supplemental executive retirement plans. This new estimation approach discounts the individual expected cash flows underlying the service cost and interest cost using the applicable spot rates derived from the yield curve used to discount the cash flows for the benefit obligations. Historically, the estimated service and interest cost components utilized a single weighted-average discount rate derived from the yield curve used to measure the benefit obligations at the beginning of the period. The Company elected this change to provide a more precise measurement of service and interest costs by improving the correlation between projected benefit cash flows to the corresponding spot yield curve rates. The change was accounted for as a change in accounting estimate that is inseparable from a change in accounting principle and was accounted for prospectively. While the benefit obligations for the plans measured under this approach was unchanged, the more granular application of the spot rates decreased the combined service and interest costs for the defined benefit retirement plan for fiscal 2016 by $0.7 million and the supplemental executive retirement plans by $34,000.