Pension Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Pension Plans

NOTE I – Pension Plans

We have a defined benefit pension plan covering substantially all employees hired on or before December 31, 2005.  The pension plan was closed to any employee hired after that date.  The benefits are based on years of service and the employee's final average compensation.  Effective January 1, 2007, no new benefits are earned under this plan for additional years of service after December 31, 2006.

We also have a non-qualified, non-contributory supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) for employees whose retirement benefits are reduced due to their annual compensation levels.  The SERP limits the total amount of annual retirement benefits that may be paid to a participant in the SERP from all sources (Retirement Plan, Social Security and the SERP) to $125,000.  The SERP is not funded so we pay benefits directly to participants.

Net pension costs included the following components (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2011			2010			2011			2010
Service cost-benefits earned during period	$	23		$	25		$	77		$	75
Interest cost on projected benefit obligations		991			1,001			2,991			3,003
Expected return on plan assets		(1,057	)		(946	)		(3,172	)		(2,838	)
Amortization of prior service costs		52			52			157			156
Amortization of actuarial loss		218			201			732			603
Net pension costs	$	227		$	333		$	785		$	999

Qualified pension plan obligations are funded in accordance with prescribed regulatory requirements and with an objective of meeting funding requirements necessary to avoid restrictions on flexibility of plan operation and benefit payments.  We made $1.0 million in contributions during each of the second and third quarters and expect to make an additional $1.0 million in contributions to our qualified pension plan in 2011.