NASHUA — Following weeks of budget deliberations, aldermen finally passed the city’s fiscal 2013 budget 12 days into the calendar year.

On Thursday, the Board of Aldermen unanimously adopted a $230 million budget that could increase taxes by up to three percent, but offered no layoffs to city workers.

“I am glad it is done,” said Brian McCarthy, board president. “I am generally pleased with the process. I think it was debated well.”

A budget of $230,684,530 was approved by 13 aldermen, with two others absent from the meeting. The final spending plan was $77,200 over Mayor Donnalee Lozeau’s proposed budget, and is still nearly $477,000 under the spending cap.

“I would have rather done this last Tuesday, but overall, I am happy,” Ward 4 Alderman Arthur Craffey said following last night’s vote.

Few changes were made to the budget on Thursday. The largest financial adjustment was an addition of $100,000 to be placed in the Nashua Police Department’s contingency fund to allow for the hiring of extra police officers if deemed necessary.

Police Chief John Seusing previously asked the board to consider increasing the force by eight officers, allowing him to place more patrol officers in the downtown and tree street neighborhoods.

The department is authorized to hire 179 police officers, however its budget only provides enough funds for 177. In addition, there are now only 164 active officers on the force because of six existing vacancies, six officers at the police academy and another officer in training.

“I think this was a reasonable compromise, a reasonable situation,” Alderman-at-Large James Donchess said of providing an extra $100,000 to the department to hire more police if sufficient funds are available.

Also on Thursday, aldermen reversed their decision from earlier in the week and ultimately added $5,000 to the Nashua Children’s Home, a budget item that was originally cut on Tuesday. This will enable a total city contribution of $15,000 to the organization’s Independent and Transitional Living Program, which offers housing to city youth identified with special needs.

Funding to various human service agencies, including the Children’s Home, received scrutiny this budget season as controversy over how the Review and Comment Commission delegated funds arose.

Other additions to the budget included $12,000 to renovate the basketball court at Holman Stadium, and $20,000 to purchase new equipment at the North Common Playground.

The aldermanic Budget Review Committee has been tweaking the proposed budget for several weeks, and although its proposed amendment to Lozeau’s budget was rejected by the full Board of Aldermen, several of its recommendations were ultimately incorporated into the budget adopted on Thursday.

“I guess I am pleased, but I would like us to discuss the process a little more and see if we can make this more streamlined,” said Ward 2 Alderman Richard Dowd, explaining there were extensive discussions and suggestions made by the Budget Review Committee — which he is a member — that were not considered or supported.

The new budget is up nearly $3.5 million, or more than 1.5 percent from last year’s city budget.

khoughton@newstote.com