Spokane Valley-based Horizon Credit Union reported a 64 percent drop in net income for 2009, but posted gains in deposits, loans, and total assets during the year.

Horizon reported 2009 net income of just over $1.3 million, down from $3.6 million for 2008. Still, Jeff Adams, Horizon's president and CEO, characterized the credit union's performance last year as "fairly strong."

Horizon's total loans rose 14 percent to $300.2 million as of Dec. 31, compared with $262.1 million at the end of 2008.

The credit union's auto loans grew as some other lenders withdrew from that market, Adams says. Horizon also benefited from strong demand for home-equity loans and refinancing of home mortgages, he says.

Horizon's deposits rose by 2 percent to $352 million, and its assets also increased by 2 percent, to $493.4 million.

"Overall, 2009 was a positive year for us, but not without economic impacts," Adams says.

The credit union more than tripled its provision for loan losses to $3.1 million in 2009, up from $755,000 a year earlier.

Horizon's return on average assets was 0.33 percent in 2009, down from 0.95 percent a year earlier.

Adams says the major factor behind the decline in that benchmark indicator was a $2.6 million stabilization fee Horizon was assessed to help replenish the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), which insures member deposits for participating credit unions.

Were it not for the NCUSIF stabilization expense, Horizon's net income would have been $3.9 million, an increase of 3.8 percent compared with a year earlier when the National Credit Union Association, which administers the NCUSIF, didn't assess a fee.

Horizon's membership grew by nearly 2,000 last year to a total of more than 37,000 members, Adams says.

He says he expects the credit union's total loans will continue to grow this year, but at a slower pace than last year. Potential deposit growth will depend on interest rates and how members view risk in other investment opportunities, Adams says.

Horizon, which was chartered in 1948, operates 19 branch offices. In 2009, Horizon bought the 46,000-square-foot Mansfield Crossing Building occupied by its headquarters, at 13224 E. Mansfield. It also moved its former Trent Avenue branch office there.

The credit union also remodeled and expanded its Ponderay, Idaho, branch last year.

Its other Washington branches are in Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Deer Park, Davenport, Colville, Ephrata, and Moses Lake, and it also has Idaho branches in Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, and Sandpoint.