8. RETIREMENT PLANS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

8. RETIREMENT PLANS

We sponsor a 401(k) savings plan for substantially all of our employees. We provide a contribution of 3% of applicable salary to the plan for all employees with greater than six months of service. Additionally, we match eligible employee contributions at a rate of 0.25%, per one percent of applicable salary contributed to the plan by the employee. This matching contribution will be made by us up to a maximum of 1% of the employee’s applicable salary for all qualified employees. Our contributions to the 401(k) plan were approximately $0.9 million in 2016, $1.0 million in 2015 and $1.0 million in 2014.