BELHAVEN — The Town of Belhaven is nearing completion of a budget for fiscal year 2017-18, which begins July 1.

“Monday before last (June 5) we had a budget workshop, and we met with all the department heads,” town Manager Woody Jarvis said. “We looked at basically trying to accommodate as much as we could without a tax increase or a rate increase on the water, sewer and electric.”

A notable change this year is the incorporation of a 3-percent raise for all full-time town employees. Jarvis said these employees hadn’t received an across-the-board raise in several years, and the total cost of providing such a bump is roughly $50,000.

Other requests involved purchasing replacement vehicles for some of the town departments, building maintenance, improvements at the fire department and funding for the future Belhaven Senior Center and other nonprofits, according to Jarvis.

“Very close to what we have been doing, but also realizing that some of the sacrifices that we had made with respect to some vacant positions being filled and that kind of thing gave us the leeway,” Jarvis said of finding money to fund some of the town’s needs. “This past Monday night, we presented the results of the looking and tweaking and doing.”

Fiscal year 2017-18’s budget proposal lists about $1.6 million in its general fund, which doesn’t include the enterprise fund with revenue from water, sewer and electric rates. Each fund provides money for certain expenses, the restrictions of which are in place by law.

Jarvis said the Town worked to avoid more rate increases this year, as officials are aware of how burdensome those rates can already be for some residents.

He said expenses add up fast, but Belhaven officials did the best they could to present a balanced budget.

“We certainly have more needs than we have money,” Jarvis said. “Things do seem to be getting better, but it’s still pretty fragile. … Still trying to be conservative and still trying to heal from within.”

The Belhaven Board of Aldermen planned to vote on the budget at Monday night’s meeting, but because of Mayor Adam O’Neal’s absence, decided to wait until the June 26 meeting.

O’Neal did not respond to a request for comment on the budget process.

Jarvis reiterated that the Town must have the budget nailed down by the start of the fiscal year.