On April 24, 2018, upon
re-election
of nine of the existing directors, 21,420 restricted shares with a total value of $540,000 were granted to these
non-employee
directors and were expensed over the period from grant date to April 23, 2019, the date of the next annual shareholders’ meeting at which the directors’ term expired. On April 23, 2019, upon
re-election
of nine of the existing directors and two new directors, 21,714 restricted shares with a total value of $660,000 were granted to these
non-employee
directors and will be expensed over the period from the grant date to April 28, 2020, the Company’s next annual shareholders’ meeting at which the directors’ term expires. On January 28, 2020, upon the election of a new director, 434 restricted shares with a total value of $15,000 were granted to this
non-employee
director and will be expensed over the period from the grant date to April 28, 2020, the Company’s next annual shareholders’ meeting at which the director term expires. The Company recorded director expense related to these restricted share grants of $175,000 and $135,000 for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
On October 25, 2016, the Company granted 30,810 restricted stock shares with a total value of $560,000 to certain officers that are being expensed over the vesting period of three years. On October 24, 2017, the Company granted 28,382 restricted shares with a total value of $655,000 to certain officers that are being expensed over the vesting period of one to three years. On October 23, 2018, the Company granted 52,042 restricted shares with a total value of $1,440,000 to certain officers that are being expensed over a three-year vesting period. On June 26, 2019, the Company granted 23,428 restricted shares with a total value of $695,000 to certain officers that are being expensed over the vesting period of three years. On October 22, 2019, the Company granted 22,188 restricted shares with a total value of $785,000 to certain officers that will be expensed over a three-year vesting period. On January 28, 2020, the Company granted 2,979 restricted shares with a total value of $103,000 to certain officers that will be expensed over a three-year vesting period. The Company recorded restricted stock expense for officers of $275,000 and $205,000 for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
The Company had a defined benefit pension plan that was frozen effective January 1, 2004, whereby no new participants were added to the Plan and no additional years of service accrued to participants. The pension plan covered substantially all of the Company’s employees at the time. The benefits for each employee were based on years of service and a percentage of the employee’s qualifying compensation during the final years of employment. The Company’s funding policy was to contribute annually the amount necessary to satisfy the Internal Revenue Service’s funding standards. Contributions to the pension plan, prior to freezing the plan, were intended to provide not only for benefits attributed to service to date but also for those expected to be earned in the future. The Company made 0 contribution to the plan in 2020 or 2019.
In December 2018, due to the rising interest rate environment, the Company determined it was in the best interest of its shareholders to work toward terminating its pension obligation. The Company annuitized approximately 53% of the pension benefit obligation at that time and recorded a loss on settlement totaling $1,546,000 for the year ended December 31, 2018. In 2019, the Company continued to take steps to completely settle and terminate its remaining pension obligation and recorded loss associated with the final termination of $2,673,000. The loss incurred included unrealized loss previously recorded in other comprehensive income and refunding to remaining participants for funding balance overages offset by a gain on hedging instrument entered into to minimize interest rate movement during the termination period. At December 31, 2019, all balances in the pension plan were zero and the Company’s obligation has been extinguished. For the three-month ended March 31, 2019, the Company recorded pension related expense totaling $923,000.
Note 10 - Fair Value Disclosures
The authoritative accounting guidance for fair value measurements defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants. A fair value measurement assumes that the transaction to sell the asset or transfer the
liability occurs in the principal market for the asset or liability or, in the absence of a principal market, the most advantageous market for the asset or liability. The price in the principal (or most advantageous) market used to measure the fair value of the asset or liability shall not be adjusted for transaction costs. An orderly transaction is a transaction that assumes exposure to the market for a period prior to the measurement date to allow for marketing activities that are usual and customary for transactions involving such assets and liabilities; it is not a forced transaction. Market participants are buyers and sellers in the principal market that are (i) independent, (ii) knowledgeable, (iii) able to transact, and (iv) willing to transact.
The authoritative accounting guidance requires the use of valuation techniques that are consistent with the market approach, the income approach and/or the cost approach. The market approach uses prices and other relevant information generated by market transactions involving identical or comparable assets and liabilities. The income approach uses valuation techniques to convert future amounts, such as cash flows or earnings, to a single present amount on a discounted basis. The cost approach is based on the amount that currently would be required to replace the service capacity of an asset (replacement costs). Valuation techniques should be consistently applied. Inputs to valuation techniques refer to the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. Inputs may be observable, meaning those that reflect the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on market data obtained from independent sources, or unobservable, meaning those that reflect the reporting entity’s own assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on the best information available in the circumstances. In that regard, the authoritative guidance establishes a fair value hierarchy for valuation inputs that gives the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs. The fair value hierarchy is as follows:
| • | Level 1 Inputs – Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date. |
| • | Level 2 Inputs – Inputs other than quoted prices included in Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. These include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability (for example, interest rates, volatilities, prepayment speeds, loss severities, credit risks and default rates) or inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data by correlation or other means. |
| • | Level 3 Inputs – Significant unobservable inputs that reflect an entity’s own assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the assets or liabilities. |
A description of the valuation methodologies used for assets and liabilities measured at fair value, as well as the general classification of such instruments pursuant to the valuation hierarchy, is set forth below.
In general, fair value is based upon quoted market prices, where available. If such quoted market prices are not available, fair value is based upon internally developed models that primarily use, as inputs, observable market-based parameters. Valuation adjustments may be made to ensure that financial instruments are recorded at fair value. While management believes the Company’s valuation methodologies are appropriate and consistent with other market participants, the use of different methodologies or assumptions to determine the fair value of certain financial instruments could result in a different estimate of fair value at the reporting date.
Securities classified as
available-for-sale
and trading are reported at fair value utilizing Level 1 and Level 2 inputs. For these securities, the Company obtains fair value measurements from an independent pricing service. The fair value measurements consider observable data that may include market spreads, cash flows, the United States Treasury yield curve, live trading levels, trade execution data, dealer quotes, market consensus prepayments speeds, credit information and the security’s terms and conditions, among other items.