Note 13. Long-Term Incentive Plan

The Partnership has a Long Term Incentive Plan, as amended (the “LTIP”), whereby a total of 4,300,000 common units were authorized for delivery with respect to awards under the LTIP. The LTIP provides for awards to employees, consultants and directors of the General Partner and employees and consultants of affiliates of the Partnership who perform services for the Partnership. The LTIP allows for the award of options, unit appreciation rights, restricted units, phantom units, distribution equivalent rights, unit awards and substitute awards.

Awards granted under the LTIP are authorized by the Compensation Committee of the board of directors of the General Partner (the “Committee”) from time to time. Additionally and in accordance with the LTIP, the Committee established a “CEO Authorized LTIP” program pursuant to which the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) may grant awards of phantom units without distribution equivalent rights to employees of the General Partner and the Partnership’s subsidiaries, other than named executive officers. The CEO Authorized LTIP program was approved for three consecutive calendar years commencing January 1, 2014, subject to modification or earlier termination by the Committee. During each calendar year of the program, the CEO is authorized to grant awards of up to an aggregate amount of $2.0 million of phantom units payable in common units upon vesting, with unused dollar amounts carrying over in the next year, and no individual grant may be made for an award valued at the time of grant of more than $550,000, unless otherwise previously approved by the Committee. Awards granted pursuant to the CEO Authorized LTIP generally would be for a term of six years and vest in equal tranches at the end of each of the fourth, fifth and sixth anniversary dates of the particular award.

Phantom Unit Awards

In 2013, the Committee granted a total of 498,112 phantom units under the LTIP to certain employees and non-employee directors of the General Partner. In 2014, a total of 44,902 phantom units were granted to certain employees. In 2015, a total of 76,893 phantom units were granted to certain employees and the non-employee directors. No awards were granted during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016.

The phantom units for these awards vest pursuant to the terms of the grant agreements. The Partnership currently intends and reasonably expects to issue and deliver the common units upon vesting.

The Partnership recorded total compensation expense related to the above awards of $0.9 million and $1.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and $3.1 million and $3.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which is included in selling, general and administrative expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. The total compensation cost related to the non-vested awards not yet recognized at September 30, 2016 was approximately $10.8 million and is expected to be recognized ratably over the remaining requisite service periods.

The following table presents a summary of the status of the non-vested phantom units:


		Weighted
	Number of	Average
	Non-vested	Grant Date
	Units	Fair Value ($)
Outstanding non—vested units at December 31, 2015	595,720		38.85
Vested	(11,605)		35.76
Forfeited	(14,953)		32.82
Outstanding non—vested units at September 30, 2016	569,162		39.08

Repurchase Program

In May 2009, the board of directors of the General Partner authorized the repurchase of the Partnership’s common units (the “Repurchase Program”) for the purpose of meeting the General Partner’s anticipated obligations to deliver common units under the LTIP and meeting the General Partner’s obligations under existing employment agreements and other employment related obligations of the General Partner (collectively, the “General Partner’s Obligations”). The General Partner is authorized to acquire up to 1,242,427 of its common units in the aggregate over an extended period of time, consistent with the General Partner’s Obligations. Common units may be repurchased from time to time in open market transactions, including block purchases, or in privately negotiated transactions. Such authorized unit repurchases may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time and are subject to price and economic and market conditions, applicable legal requirements and available liquidity. Since the Repurchase Program was implemented, the General Partner has repurchased 838,505 common units pursuant to the Repurchase Program for approximately $24.8 million. No units were purchased during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016.