Fair Value Measurements

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Fair Value Measurements [Abstract]

Fair Value Measurements

(10) Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Our calculation of the fair value of derivative instruments includes several assumptions. The fair value hierarchy prioritizes these input assumptions in the following three broad levels:

Level 1 – Valuation is based on quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the company has the ability to access at the measurement date.

Level 2 – Valuation is based on quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active market, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active and model based valuations for which all significant inputs are observable in the market.

Level 3 – Valuation is based on model based techniques that use unobservable inputs for the asset or liability. These inputs reflect our own views about the assumption market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.

The following table categorizes our fair value instruments according to the assumptions used to calculate those values at the end of each of the past two years:

			Fair Value Measurements Using
Description	Asset / (Liability) Balance at 12/31/2011		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Interest rate swaps	$	(9,039)	$	-	$	(9,039)	$	-
Available-for-sale securities		3,802		3,802		-		-
Deferred compensation plan assets		7,973		-		7,973		-
Supplementary pension plan assets		7,632		-		7,632		-

			Fair Value Measurements Using
Description	Asset / (Liability) Balance at 12/31/2010		Quoted Prices in Active Markets  for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Interest rate swaps	$	(6,666)	$	-	$	(6,666)	$	-
Available-for-sale securities		14,168		14,168		-		-
Deferred compensation plan assets		8,358		-		8,358		-
Supplementary pension plan assets		7,676		-		7,676		-

Interest rate swaps are valued using discounted cash flows. The key input used is the LIBOR swap rate, which is observable at commonly quoted intervals for the full term of the swap. Available-for-sale securities are valued using quoted market prices. Deferred compensation and supplementary pension plan assets are valued using quoted prices for similar assets in active markets.