NOTE 5 — Pension Plans

We maintain a non-contributory tax qualified defined benefit pension plan that has been frozen since July 2011. All of our full time employees were eligible to participate in the qualified plan. Benefits provided by our qualified pension plan were based on years of service and employees’ remuneration over their employment period. Compensation earned by employees up to July 31, 2011 is used for purposes of calculating benefits under our pension plan with no future benefit accruals after this date. We also maintain a non-qualified, non-contributory defined benefit pension plan, the excess plan, for certain employees that has been frozen since July 2011. This excess plan provided benefits that would otherwise be provided under the qualified pension plan but for maximum benefit and compensation limits applicable under federal tax law. The cost associated with the excess plan is determined using the same actuarial methods and assumptions as those used for our qualified pension plan. The assets for the excess plan aggregate $1,039,000 and $1,052,000 as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively, and are recorded in other assets in our consolidated balance sheets (see NOTE 7 — Fair Value Measurements).

The components of net periodic pension benefit for our defined benefit pension plans are as follows:

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2018			2017
Interest cost	$	115,000		$	109,000
Expected return on plan assets	(170,000		)	(163,000		)
Recognized net actuarial loss	36,000			42,000

	$	(19,000	)	$	(12,000	)

The net periodic pension benefit is included in other income in our consolidated statements of operations.

We contributed $500,000 to our defined benefit pension plans during the three months ended March 31, 2018. While we have no minimum required pension contributions for 2018, we will consider making additional contributions during the remainder of 2018. No contributions were made to our defined benefit pension plans during the three months ended March 31, 2017.

We also maintain a non-elective, non-qualified supplemental executive retirement plan (“SERP”) which provides deferred compensation to certain highly compensated employees that approximates the value of benefits lost by the freezing of the pension plan which are not offset by our enhanced matching contributions in our 401(k) plan. The SERP is a discretionary defined contribution plan and contributions made to the SERP in any given year are not guaranteed and will be at the sole discretion of our Compensation and Stock Incentive Committee. In the first three months of 2018 and 2017, we recorded expenses of $25,000 and $20,000, respectively, related to the SERP. During the first three months of 2018 and 2017, we contributed $85,000 and $96,000 to the plan, respectively. Our estimate for future contributions to the SERP was $21,000 and $81,000 as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively, and is included in accrued liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets.

We maintain a defined contribution 401(k) plan that permits participation by substantially all employees. Our matching contributions to the 401(k) plan $36,000 and $33,000 in the first three months of 2018 and 2017, respectively.