9. Notes Payable

Notes payable as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 consisted of the following (dollars in thousands):

	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Credit Agreement average effective interest rate of 2.5% inclusive of unused fee	$	46,000		$	44,000
Various notes payable with $1,227 plus accrued interest due in the next year interest accrues in the range of 3.25% through 3.5% per annum		5,823			5,110
		51,823			49,110
Less current portion		(1,227	)		(775	)
Long term portion	$	50,596		$	48,335

Effective December 5, 2013, we entered into an Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with a commitment for a $125.0 million revolving credit facility with a maturity date of November 30, 2018. This agreement was amended in August 2015 and January 2016 (hereafter referred to as “Amended Credit Agreement”). The Amended Credit Agreement is unsecured and has loan covenants, including requirements that the Company comply with a consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio and consolidated leverage ratio. Proceeds from the Amended Credit Agreement may be used for working capital, acquisitions, purchases of the Company’s common stock, dividend payments to the Company’s common stockholders, capital expenditures and other corporate purposes. The pricing grid which is based on the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio with the applicable spread over LIBOR ranging from 1.5% to 2.5% or the applicable spread over the Base Rate ranging from 0.1% to 1%. Fees under the Amended Credit Agreement include an unused commitment fee ranging from 0.1% to 0.25% depending on the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio and the amount of funds outstanding under the Amended Credit Agreement.

The January 2016 amendment to the Amended Credit Agreement increased the cash and noncash consideration that the Company could pay with respect to acquisitions permitted under the Amended Credit Agreement to $50,000,000 for any fiscal year, and increased the amount the Company may pay in cash dividends to its shareholders in an aggregate amount not to exceed $10,000,000 in any fiscal year.

On December 31, 2016, $46.0 million was outstanding on the Credit Agreement resulting in $79.0 million of availability. As of the date of this report, the Company was in compliance with all of the covenants thereunder.

The Company generally enters into various notes payable as a means of financing a portion of its acquisitions, purchasing of non-controlling interests and paying the settlement of mandatorily redeemable non-controlling interests. In conjunction with the the transactions related to these in 2016, the Company entered into notes payable in the aggregate amount of $1.5 million of which an aggregate principal payment of $694,000 is due in 2017 and $819,000 in 2018. Interest accrues in the range of 3.25% to 3.5% per annum and is payable with each principal installment.

Aggregate annual payments of principal required pursuant to the Credit Agreement and the above notes payable subsequent to December 31, 2016 are as follows (in thousands):

During the twelve months ended December 31, 2017	$	1,227
During the twelve months ended December 31, 2018		48,750
During the twelve months ended December 31, 2019		1,846
	$	51,823