(9)	Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Benefits

Employee benefits charged to operating expenses are summarized in the table below for the periods indicated.

	Three Months Ended March 31,
(in thousands)	2018		2017
Payroll taxes	$	351	$	356
Medical plans		548		426
401k match and profit sharing		186		250
Periodic pension cost		405		336
Other		15		16
Total employee benefits	$	1,505	$	1,384

The Company’s profit-sharing plan includes a matching 401k portion, in which the Company matches the first 3% of eligible employee contributions. The Company made annual contributions in an amount up to 6% of income before income taxes and before contributions to the profit-sharing and pension plans for all participants, limited to the maximum amount deductible for federal income tax purposes, for each of the periods shown. In addition, employees were able to make additional tax-deferred contributions.

Pension

The Company provides a noncontributory defined benefit pension plan for all full-time employees. Beginning January 1, 2018 and for all retrospective periods presented, the Company adopted the guidance under ASU 2017-07, Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost. Under the new guidance only the service cost component of the net periodic benefit cost is reported in the same income statement line item as salaries and benefits, and the remaining components are reported as other non-interest expense. An employer is required to recognize the funded status of a defined benefit postretirement plan as an asset or liability in its balance sheet and to recognize changes in that funded status in the year in which the changes occur through comprehensive income. Under the Company’s funding policy for the defined benefit pension plan, contributions are made to a trust as necessary to provide for current service and for any unfunded accrued actuarial liabilities over a reasonable period. To the extent that these requirements are fully covered by assets in the trust, a contribution might not be made in a particular year. The Company expects to make a pension contribution in the amount of $1.8 million in the second quarter of 2018. The 2018 minimum required contribution is $1.0 million. Effective July 1, 2017, the Company amended the pension plan to effectuate a “soft freeze” such that no individual hired (or rehired in the case of a former employee) by the Company after September 30, 2017, whether or not such individual is or was a vested member in the plan, will be eligible to be an active member and be entitled to accrue any benefits under the plan. Certain individuals hired by the Company before July 1, 2017 are also not eligible to participate in the plan. Beginning in 2019, the Company anticipates that there may be a small reduction in the overall liability and service cost resulting from the closure of the plan to new entrants.

Components of Net Pension Cost and Other Amounts Recognized in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

The following items are components of net pension cost for the periods indicated:

	Pension Benefits
(in thousands)	2018			2017
Service cost - benefits earned during the year	$	1,620		$	1,343
Interest costs on projected benefit obligations (a)		1,033			1,009
Expected return on plan assets (a)		(1,267	)		(1,124	)
Expected administrative expenses (a)		93			88
Amortization of prior service cost (a)		79			79
Amortization of unrecognized net loss (a)		138			11
Net periodic pension cost	$	1,696		$	1,406
Net periodic pension cost for the three months ended March 31, (actual)	$	405		$	336

(a) The components of net periodic pension cost other than the service cost component are included in other non-interest expense.