The First State Bank holds 115th Annual Stockholders Meeting

President Robert Galt addressed stockholders Tuesday night at The First State Bank of Malta's 115th Stockholder's Banquet.

Galt thanked the owner and staff of the Tin Cup for the use of their facilities, as well as the terrific meal they served to the stockholders.

The introduction of the newly elected board members for the First State Bank was missing the name of an individual that has served on First State's board for 34 years. R.D. Scott also served as the Chairman of the Board for the past 16 years. Mr. Scott has had an association with the First State Bank since coming to work for the bank in the spring of 1962. Galt thanked Mr. Scott for his many years of dedication and went on to say that it won't be the same without his presence in the bank. As a token of First State Bank's appreciation for Ron's many years of service, a brand new set of golf clubs were given to Mr. Scott.

The First State Bank Board of Directors for 2018 will be Chairman Robert J. Galt, Bruce Hould, Michael Morrison, Frank White, F. Scott Robinson, Martin Johnson, and Lawrence Poulton.

F.S. Banco, Inc., the bank's parent holding company, will have all of the above-mentioned directors of The First State Bank as well as R.D. Scott and Larry Smith serve as its board for the upcoming year.

At the annual meeting that afternoon, President Galt gave the stockholders that attended a brief rundown of the Holding Company's balance sheet and income statement.

Galt then went into a summary of last year for both the bank and community.

In 2017, there was a drought for the summer months and bitter cold and snow to close out the year. The Phillips County community suffered through one of the driest growing seasons on record.

"Some areas in our county received only three inches of moisture from April to September," Galt said. "This on the heels of one of the wettest seasons in recent memory (2016) has put the agricultural sector on guard. Farming and ranching is usually a very tough profession, but when Mother Nature is against you, producers are stretched to their breaking points. I believe that anyone associated with the ag community would just like to have a normal production cycle again, if anybody can define normal."

The commodity markets also played an important role in 2017. Grain markets have suffered for the past several years, giving way to the higher prices associated with pulse crops. Area farmers are doing their best to learn about the new crops, but very high input costs and an expensive learning curve has made this a rocky road as well. A bright spot in agriculture was the resurgence of the livestock markets in the late fall months. The producers that held their stock into the later months were rewarded with a small run in the cattle markets. Government programs brought needed revenue to both the farmer and rancher. These payments were well received, and although certainly not the answer to our ag economy, help cover some production costs and loan payments.

The Federal Reserve continued to try and create the proper mix of liquidity in the overall economy by adjusting the fed funds rate three times in 2017. Each move was a 25 basis point increase that effectively moved the Prime lending rate to 4.5% by year end. Of course this is discouraging news for the borrowers, but a bright spot for the net depositors. With this increase, CD rates moved above 1.0% for the first time in 5 years.

President Galt acknowledged the hard work by the officers and the staff at the First State Bank. Emphasizing the years of experience from longer term staff members has made training our newer employees much easier. Galt talked about how difficult it can be to find dedicated workers in a small community, but is excited to work with the group of individuals currently on First State's payroll.

In closing, Galt once again thanked the owner and staff of the Tin Cup for a great evening and thanked the loyal stockholders for attending the banquet.