Employee benefit plans:

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Employee benefit plans:

Employee benefit plans:

9. Employee benefit plans:

    Our retirement plan is a contributory 401(k) that covers substantially all employees. An employee may contribute, subject to IRS limitations, up to 60% of his or her eligible annual compensation. At our discretion, we may match the employee's contribution and have done so each year of the plan's existence. Our current policy is to match the employee's contribution as long as there is sufficient margin to do so. The match, which is calculated each pay period, currently can be equal to as much as three-quarters of the first 6% of an employee's eligible compensation, depending on the amount and timing of the employee's contribution. Our contributions to the matching feature of the plan were approximately $1,161,000 in 2013, $1,016,000 in 2012 and $925,000 in 2011. Our contribution to the employer retirement contribution feature was 8%. Our contributions to the employer retirement contribution feature of the 401(k) plan were approximately $2,289,000 in 2013, $2,029,000 in 2012 and $1,844,000 in 2011.