So the first quarter I would say well, let me reiterate. So we think somewhere around $72 million is ongoing on average for the four quarters per quarter expense. The first quarter could be somewhat higher due to seasonal weather related costs, knock on wood. We haven’t had the snow for six weeks that we had at this time last year. The frontloaded employee payroll cost impacts us somewhat and some relatively small amount remain for integration. I will add that just so in case we had planned the closing of two branches of Great Lakes as well as to drive ups that will take place after the full notice period expired at the end of March. So those types of things won’t fully benefit us until later on in the year, but that’s really the kind of issues we’re talking about doing. So with that let me turn it back over to Mike.
Mike Scudder – President & Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Paul. Now, just before we open it up for your questions just some further remarks. Generally, operating conditions here in our broader markets continue to improve. I think the overall environment is still challenging. I would suggest to say 2014 was still a challenging year and the business itself is getting increasingly complex. However, having said that, we feel pretty good going into next year. Operating conditions are getting stronger and as I said while interest rates remain low that is still a challenging environment, but the expectations for higher rates are looming.
Against the backdrop of that environment, our priorities from 2014 to 2015 really won’t change. We continue to be focused on strengthening our team, positioning ourselves to grow and not just our loan portfolio, but also broaden our revenue streams as we’ve done throughout [inaudible] and you have to maintain that interconnectedness if you will on balancing the timing of business investment against investment in risk management as you navigate that type of environment.
We closed the year with total assets at about $9.5 billion up 15% from where we started the year. Loans are up almost 20%. Our mix of commercial lending activity is stronger. Equipment lease is now a part of our product set. Wealth management continues to be a real source of strength for us overall and our nationally recognized retail platform continues to be a great source of core deposit strength. Through the acquisitions, our core deposit base got even stronger. It provides us with ample liquidity, our overall level of funding attributed to core deposits now stands pretty close to 85% and frankly we’ll be a little stronger once that average includes Great Lakes and then importantly our credit metrics as Mark alluded to, are significantly improved.
So as we start the year, we feel pretty good about our momentum and our positioning. As I suggested, our product lines and distribution channels are broader. We’ve got great opportunities to expand our business banking platforms and treasury management activity, leveraging our investment in our existing teams and added talent both on the sales and the risk control process. We’re definitely positioned to operate as a larger company.
We remain sensitive to the expected rise in interest rates which in turn requires balanced navigation of short-term margin pressures. Our liquidity and core deposit base offer us an advantage that I would suggest few enjoy as we enter into such an environment, but it also requires us to carefully manage our risk and be patient as it relates to management of short-term earnings.
I do not want to trade or inhibit our ability to grow and respond to higher interest rates just to knock off or change a position relative to a couple of quarters. So we are going to remain very focused on our overall cost control and tight cost control on that environment, but we’re also going to be continuing to balance what we need to do to position ourselves to grow. So we feel we’re very well-positioned to do that. We have the opportunity as I said to leverage culture, infrastructure and capital to produce overall stronger returns for our shareholders. So we are anxious for the year to start certainly to say the least.
