12. RETIREMENT AND POSTRETIREMENT PLANS

The Holding Company or the Bank maintains the Retirement Plan of Dime Community Bank (the "Employee Retirement Plan"), the Retirement Plan for Board Members of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (the "Outside Director Retirement Plan"), the BMP, and the Postretirement Welfare Plan of Dime Community Bank (the "Postretirement Plan"). Net expenses associated with these plans were comprised of the following components:

	Three Months Ended June 30,
	2017						2016
	BMP, Employee and Outside Director Retirement Plans			Postretirement Plan			BMP, Employee and Outside Director Retirement Plans			Postretirement Plan

Service cost	$	-		$	-		$	-		$	-
Interest cost		329			14			343			16
Expected return on assets		(395	)		-			(383	)		-
Unrecognized past service liability		-			(2	)		-			(2	)
Amortization of unrealized loss (gain)		359			(1	)		428			(1	)
Net periodic cost	$	293		$	11		$	388		$	13

	Six Months Ended June 30,
	2017						2016
	BMP, Employee and Outside Director Retirement Plans			Postretirement Plan			BMP, Employee and Outside Director Retirement Plans			Postretirement Plan

Service cost	$	-		$	-		$	-		$	-
Interest cost		658			28			686			32
Expected return on assets		(790	)		-			(766	)		-
Unrecognized past service liability		-			(4	)		-			(4	)
Amortization of unrealized loss (gain)		718			(2	)		858			(2	)
Net periodic cost	$	586		$	22		$	778		$	26

The Company disclosed in its consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016 that it expected to make contributions to, or benefit payments on behalf of, benefit plans during 2017 as follows: Employee Retirement Plan - $15, Outside Director Retirement Plan - $208, Postretirement Plan - $113, and BMP - $725. The Company made contributions of $8 to the Employee Retirement Plan during the three months ended June 30, 2017, and $12 during the six months ended June 30, 2017, and expects to make the remainder of the anticipated contributions during 2017. The Company made benefit payments of $56 on behalf of the Outside Director Retirement Plan during the three months ended June 30, 2017, and $97 during the six months ended June 30, 2017, and expects to make the remainder of the estimated net contributions or benefit payments during 2017. The Company made benefit payments totaling $42 on behalf of the Postretirement Plan during the three months ended June 30, 2017, and $77 during the six months ended June 30, 2017, and expects to make the remainder of the anticipated contributions or benefit payments during 2017. The Company made benefit payments totaling $69 on behalf of the BMP during the three month period ended June 30, 2017, and $104 during six months ended June 30, 2017, and expects to make the remainder of the anticipated benefit payments during 2017.

The BMP exists in order to compensate executive officers for any curtailments in benefits due to statutory limitations on qualifying benefit plans. During the three-month period ended June 30, 2017, in addition to benefit payments from the defined benefit plan component of the BMP discussed above, a retired participant elected a gross lump-sum distribution of $121. The distribution was satisfied by 4,282 shares of Common Stock (market value of $84) held by the ESOP component of the BMP and cash of $37 held by the defined contribution plan components of the BMP. As a result of the distribution, a non-cash tax benefit of $8 was recognized for the difference between market value and cost basis of the common stock held by the BMP. Effective January 1, 2017, income tax benefits were recognized as discrete items in income tax expense in accordance to ASU 2016-09.