Investment income increased to $5.8 million in 2019, compared with $2.7 million in 2018. The increase was due to additional interest income driven by higher interest rates and cash management activities to earn a higher yield on excess cash balances.
Other operating expenses represented 15.8% of total revenues for 2019 as compared to 16.5% for the year ended December 31, 2018. Other operating expenses for 2019 increased $45.0 million, or 13.5%, over the same period of 2018. The net increase included: (i) $56.5 million of other operating expenses related to stand-alone acquisitions that had no comparable costs in the same period of 2018; (ii) increased expenses associated with information technology items related to data processing and value-added consulting services; partially offset by (iii) the increase in the value of corporate-owned life insurance policies associated with our deferred compensation plan, which was substantially offset by increases in the value of liabilities in the Company’s deferred compensation plan recognized as expense in employee compensation and benefits.
The Company recognized gains on disposal of $10.0 million in 2019 and $2.2 million in 2018. The change in the gain on disposal was due to activity associated with book of business sales. Although we are not in the business of selling customer accounts, we periodically sell an office or a book of business (one or more customer accounts) that we believe does not produce reasonable margins or demonstrate a potential for growth, or because doing so is in the Company’s best interest.
Income before income taxes for 2019 increased 22.5%, or $26.4 million, from the same period in 2018, to $143.7 million. The increase was the result of a decline in intercompany interest expense of $9.5 million, growth and related scaling of a number of our programs and a non-recurring GSC received from one of our partners in the second quarter of 2019.
The Services Segment’s total revenues for 2019 increased 2.4%, or $4.5 million, over 2018, to $193.8 million. The $4.6 million increase in core commissions and fees was driven primarily by the following: (i) $16.5 million related to the core commissions and fees from acquisitions that had no comparable revenues in the same period of 2018; offset by (ii) a decrease of $11.9 million related to net new and renewal business that was driven by lower weather-related and general property claims activity. The Services Segment’s growth rate for total commissions and fees was 2.4%, and Organic Revenue declined 6.3% in 2019. The Organic Revenue decline was realized primarily in our Social Security advocacy and property claims businesses.
The Company borrowed approximately $600.0 million under its Revolving Credit Facility on November 15, 2018 in connection with the closing of the acquisition of certain assets and assumption of certain liabilities of Hays.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017
Lease expense for operating leases consists of the lease payments, inclusive of lease incentives, plus any initial direct costs, and is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Included in lease expense are any variable lease payments incurred in the period that were not included in the initial lease liability.
The 30-day Adjusted LIBOR Rate for the term loan and Revolving Credit Facility of the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement and Term Loan Credit Agreement as of December 31, 2019 was 1.813%, 1.750% and 1.813%, respectively.
For the ESPP plan years ended July 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the Company issued 976,303, 985,601 and 1,058,024 shares of common stock, respectively. These shares were issued at an aggregate purchase price of $24.0 million, or $24.63 per share, in 2019, $18.7 million, or $18.96 per share, in 2018, and $16.4 million, or $15.52 per share, in 2017.
At December 31, 2018, the aggregate future minimum lease payments under all non-cancelable lease agreements were as follows:
We evaluated the reasonableness of projections of future earnings for the earn-out obligation models by comparing the projections to historical results and assessing management’s key assumptions.