July was the busiest month B.J. Parker has experienced as the town welfare officer for Conway.

In 2011, Conway spent $39,000 for general assistance, $4,000 over what voters had approved. That budget line was increased to $45,000 in 2012, with a $10,000 donation from a local foundation supplementing the funds.

With three months left in the fiscal year, the amount remaining in the welfare budget is down to about $13,000, Earl Sires, Conway town manager, said Thursday.

“We’re going to be tight this year,” Sires said.

Town welfare officials say their offices are the first and last places those under extreme financial stress come. But the stop-gap service is meant to provide immediate assistance, not help with long-term needs, they say.

In Littleton, welfare administrator Ceil Stubbings said: “It’s been a busy year.”

Stubbings said the town sees more than 350 welfare applicants, and helps them out in big and small ways. More than 60 percent of the requests are rent-related, she said. Others need help paying for heat, electricity and medicines. Applicants are not given cash — the town works directly with a landlord or utility.

Lately, she said, she’s seeing people whose unemployment insurance has run out, or who have been recently laid-off and are waiting to receive money. Still others are coming in after their work hours have been cut, unable to stretch their smaller paychecks to meet their basic needs.

“Those are the people we would not normally see and we’re getting quite a few of them,” Stubbings said.

Robin Frost, Gorham town manager, said she has noticed a wider cross-section of people seeking help, including an uptick in single men.

“Mostly, people are looking for assistance with their electric bill, but some are now looking for fuel oil with the cooler weather coming in,” she said.

Not many senior citizens ask for help, though she believes they sometimes need it.

“Most of them have been self-sufficient all their lives and cannot imagine a world where they would ask for assistance,” she said. “Unfortunately, that usually means they are going without some necessities in order to keep up with their bills.”

By state law, communities are required to provide assistance “whenever a person in any town is poor and unable to support himself.” Applicants for town aid are required to complete an extensive application, with documentation, and to have exhausted other means of meeting their basic needs.

Last winter was mild, and ended early, with warm weather reaching even the northernmost part of the state much sooner than usual. That led to lower fuel bills.

“I don’t know what this winter will bring,” Stubbings said.

syoungknox@newstote.com