INCOME TAXES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit) [Table Text Block]

The Company's consolidated Federal, State and City income tax provisions were comprised of the following:

	Year Ended December 31,						Year Ended December 31,								Year Ended December 31,
			2014						2013									2012
	Federal		State and City		Total		Federal		State and City			Total			Federal			State and City			Total
Current	$	21,232	$	8,121	$	29,353	$	22,475	$	7,806		$	30,281		$	21,607		$	7,351		$	28,958
Deferred		540		231		771		362		(1,302	)		(940	)		(1,395	)		(673	)		(2,068	)
TOTAL	$	21,772	$	8,352	$	30,124	$	22,837	$	6,504		$	29,341		$	20,212		$	6,678		$	26,890

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation [Table Text Block]

The provision for income taxes differed from that computed at the Federal statutory rate as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2014			2013			2012
Tax at Federal statutory rate	$	26,029		$	25,511		$	23,519
State and local taxes, net of federal income tax benefit		5,466			4,228			4,341
Benefit plan differences		(156	)		(445	)		(114	)
Adjustments for prior period returns and tax items		(164	)		422			63
Investment in BOLI		(610	)		(585	)		(591	)
Other, net		(441	)		210			(328	)
TOTAL	$	30,124		$	29,341		$	26,890
Effective tax rate		40.51	%		40.25	%		40.02	%

Components of Federal and State and City Deferred Income Tax Assets and Liabilities

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recorded for temporary differences between the book and tax bases of assets and liabilities. The components of Federal, State and City deferred income tax assets and liabilities were as follows:

	At December 31,
Deferred tax assets:	2014		2013
Allowance for loan losses	$	8,261	$	9,518
Employee benefit plans		19,487		15,478
Credit component of OTTI		4,023		4,088
Tax effect of other components of income on investment securities and MBS		109		-
Other		1,515		2,435
Total deferred tax assets		33,395		31,519
Deferred tax liabilities:
Tax effect of other components of income on investment securities and MBS		-		559
Difference in book and tax carrying value of fixed assets		983		986
Other		16		109
Total deferred tax liabilities		999		1,654
Net deferred tax asset (recorded in other assets)	$	32,396	$	29,865