Retirement Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Retirement Plans [Abstract]

Retirement Plans

Note 9.  Retirement Plans

The Company maintains a defined contribution 401(k) plan.  The Company previously maintained a noncontributory defined benefit pension plan which was frozen as of January 31, 2007.  The Company received a favorable determination letter from the IRS in February 2010 and settled and terminated the defined benefit pension plan during the second quarter of 2010.

The following table presents the defined benefit plan's funded status and amounts recognized in the Company's consolidated financial statements.

	2010
Change in benefit obligation:	(in thousands)
Benefit obligation, beginning	$	11,887
Interest cost		96
Actuarial (gain) loss		257
Benefits paid		(12,240	)
Benefit obligation, ending		-
Change in plan assets:
Fair value of plan assets, beginning		11,252
Actual return on plan assets		1
Benefits paid		(12,240	)
Contributions made		987
Fair value of plan assets, ending		-
Funded status		-
Unrecognized net loss		-
Accrued benefit cost	$	-

Components of net periodic benefit costs:
	2010			2009
Interest cost	$	96		$	512
Expected return on plan assets		-			(579	)
Amortization of net loss		41			26
Net periodic benefit cost	$	137		$	(41	)
Other changes in plan assets and benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive income:
Amortization of net loss		(41	)		(26	)
Net loss (gain) for the period		257			(47	)
Settlement charge		(3,580	)		-
Total recognized in net periodic benefit cost and other comprehensive income	$	(3,227	)	$	(114	)

Weighted average assumptions used by the Company in the determination of net pension cost for the year ended December 31, 2009 were as follows:

	2009
Discount rate		4.52	%
Rate of increase in compensation level		-	%
Expected long-term rate of return on plan assets		6.50	%

Contributions

The Company received approval from the IRS to terminate the plan and completed the settlement of benefits and termination of the plan in June 2010.  The Company contributed approximately $1.0 million to the plan, and distributed approximately $12.2 million to participants, mostly during the second quarter of 2010.  Distributions included lump sum payments to individual participants, rollovers to other qualified plans, and purchases of non-participating annuities.  The Company contributed $1.5 million to the plan during the year ended December 31, 2009.

The Company's matching and employer discretionary contributions to the defined contribution 401(k) plan were approximately $1.9 million, $1.5 million and $1.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

In May 2003, the Company adopted an unfunded nonqualified Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (the “SERP”) for named executives.  The SERP was amended effective January 1, 2007 from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan.  The amended plan is non-contributory.  Through June 2010, the Company credited each participant's account with a contribution of 7% of compensation (generally, base pay plus incentive pay), and 5% of a participant's compensation in excess of IRS or ERISA limitations on compensation under the 401(k) plan.  During June 2010, the Company curtailed future participation in the Company's SERP.  Current participants may remain in the SERP and will continue to earn returns (either gains or losses) on invested balances, but the Company will make no further contributions to the SERP and no new participants will be eligible to join the SERP.  As a result of the curtailment, the Company recognized a curtailment loss of $666 thousand, consisting of actuarial losses previously recorded in other comprehensive income.

The Company contributed $67,000 and $122,000 to the participants' accounts under the SERP during 2010 and 2009, respectively.  At December 31, 2011 and 2010, the total liability due to participants in the SERP was $2.2 million and $2.3 million, respectively.

In order to provide some protection to the participants, the Company created a rabbi trust to hold assets sufficient to pay obligations under the SERP.  Assets within the trust were invested to mirror participant elections as to investment options (a mix of stock and bond mutual funds); investment income, gains and losses in the trust were used to determine investment returns on the participants' balances in the SERP.