Premises and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Property, Plant and Equipment Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 7. Premises and Equipment

The following table presents premises and equipment by major category.

	As of
	December 31,						September 30,
(in thousands)	2012			2011			2011
Land	$	31,757		$	29,902		$	29,833
Buildings		59,051			57,482			57,227
Furniture and equipment		29,732			29,828			29,423
Leasehold improvements		10,724			11,011			10,952
Total premises and equipment		131,264			128,223			127,435
Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization
Buildings		(19,712	)		(18,557	)		(18,090	)
Furniture and equipment		(20,382	)		(21,212	)		(20,576	)
Leasehold improvements		(5,792	)		(5,547	)		(5,346	)
Total accumulated depreciation and amortization		(45,886	)		(45,316	)		(44,012	)
Net premises and equipment	$	85,378		$	82,907		$	83,423

Depreciation expense was $6.2 million, $1.4 million, $6.4 million and $6.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2012, quarter ended December 31, 2011 and years ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2012 First Financial disposed of four in-store financial centers, resulting in a decreases in leasehold improvements and the associated accumulated depreciation of $795 thousand. In addition, First Financial disposed of fully depreciated assets no longer in service, resulting in decreases to assets and accumulated depreciation in the amounts of $3.1 million and $285 thousand for furniture and equipment and leasehold improvements, respectively. Increases in fixed assets from the Plantation acquisition were $1.1 million, $1.7 million, and $480 thousand for land, buildings, and furniture and equipment, respectively.

At December 31, 2012, 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 December 31, 2012.

(in thousands)	Rental Expense
2013	$	1,636
2014		1,203
2015		750
2016		525
2017		410
Thereafter		2,969
Total	$	7,493

Rental expenses under operating leases were $2.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2012, compared with $570 thousand, $3.6 million, and $3.0 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2012, and the years ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively.