Premises and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Property, Plant and Equipment [Table Text Block]

NOTE 7. Premises and Equipment

     The following table presents premises and equipment by major category.

	As of September 30,
(in thousands)	2011			2010
Land	$	29,100		$	29,100
Buildings		54,506			53,650
Furniture and equipment		29,423			30,377
Leasehold improvements		10,952			11,417
		123,981			124,544
Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization		(43,504	)		(42,127	)
Total	$	80,477		$	82,417

     At September 30, 2011, First Financial held various non-cancelable operating leases with contract terms extending through 2034 on buildings and land used for office space and banking purposes. Some of these leases contain escalation clauses which provide for higher rental expense based on increases in common area maintenance expenses and automatic escalation at predetermined lease anniversary or renewal dates. The following table presents minimum rental commitments as of September 30, 2011.

(in thousands)	Rental Expense
Fiscal Year
2012	$	2,508
2013		2,136
2014		1,724
2015		1,069
2016		504
Thereafter		3,489
Total	$	11,430

     Rental expenses under operating leases were $3.6 million for fiscal 2011, compared with $3.0 million and $2.6 million for fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2009, respectively.