Note 15 - Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans [Text Block]

15. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

401(k)

Plan

—

The Company has established a

401(k)

Plan whereby substantially all employees

may

participate in the Plan. Employees

may

contribute up to

75%

of their salary subject to certain limits based on federal tax laws. The Company matches the

first

2%

of employee contributions. Compensation expense attributable to matching contributions totaled approximately

$398,000,

$309,000

and

$243,000

for the years ended

December

31,

2016,

2015

and

2014,

respectively.

Other Postretirement Benefits—

The Bank participates in the Pentegra Defined Benefit Plan for Financial Institutions ("The Pentegra DB Plan"), a noncontributory tax-qualified defined-benefit pension plan. The Pentegra DB Plan's Employer Identification Number is

13

-

5645888

and the Plan Number is

333.

The Pentegra DB Plan operates as a multiemployer plan for accounting purposes and as a multiple-employer plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of

1974

and the Internal Revenue Code. There are no collective bargaining agreements in place that require contributions to the Pentegra DB Plan. No funding improvement plan or rehabilitation plan has been implemented or is pending and the Bank has not paid a surcharge to the Pentegra DB Plan.

The risks of participating in a multiemployer plan are different from single-employer plans in the following aspects:

a. Assets contributed to the multiemployer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers.

b. If a participating employer stops contributing to the plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan may be borne by the remaining participating employers.

The following table presents the funded status (market value of plan assets divided by funding target) as of

July

1

for the respective years:

	2016 (1)			2015 (1)
Plan Funded Status per valuation report		109.34	%		110.69	%

(1) Market value of plan assets reflects any contributions received through June 30, 2016.

Total contributions made to the Pentegra DB Plan by all participating employers, as reported on Form

5500,

equal

$163.1

million and

$190.8

million for the plan years ending

June

30,

2015

and

June

30,

2014,

respectively. The Bank’s contributions to the Pentegra DB Plan are not more than

5%

of the total contributions to the Pentegra DB Plan.

The Pentegra DB Plan provides a retirement benefit and a death benefit. Retirement benefits are payable in monthly installments for life and must begin not later than the

first

day of the month coincident with or the next month following the

seventieth

birthday or the participant

may

elect a lump-sum distribution. Death benefits are paid in a lump-sum distribution, the amount of which depends on years of service. Depending on the Pentegra DB Plan’s funded status, lump-sum distributions

may

have limitations. The Pentegra DB Plan was frozen effective

July

1,

2010,

eliminating all future benefit accruals for participants in the Pentegra DB Plan and closing the Pentegra DB Plan to new participants as of that date. The Bank will continue to incur costs consisting of administration and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation insurance expenses as well as amortization charges based on the funding level of the Pentegra DB Plan annually. Net pension expense was approximately

$156,000,

$138,000

and

$3.3

million for the years ended

December

 

31,

2016,

2015

and

2014,

respectively, and contributions to the Pentegra DB Plan totaled

$162,000,

$148,000

and

$3.0

million for the years ended

December

 

31,

2016,

2015

and

2014,

respectively. If the Bank chooses to withdraw from the Pentegra DB Plan, the Bank

may

be required to pay a significant withdrawal liability.