VIDALIA — The Vidalia Board of Aldermen voted Thursday to adopt a budget for the coming fiscal year with a $4.9 million deficit, though the city’s incoming mayor said those numbers will likely change.

The document adopted projects $32,369,200 in revenue and $37,277,283 in expenditures for the 2017 fiscal year, which starts today.

State law requires that the city have a budget by the beginning of the fiscal year. Mayor-elect Buz Craft, who will take office today, said he was not a part of the budget planning process.

“I have looked over it, but since I was not a part of it, I told them to go ahead and adopt it,” he said. “We can amend it when we get in and have a chance to review it.”

The budget adopted appears identical to the revised budget the board adopted Thursday for the 2016 fiscal year, which ended Thursday. State law requires cities to adjust their budgets so that actual expenses are not at more than a 5-percent variance than the budgeted numbers.

The original 2016 budget adopted in July 2015 predicted a nearly $3 million surplus, with $42,078,500 in revenue and $39,029,525 in expenditures.

Only two of the aldermen who voted on the budget Thursday, Jon Betts and Tron McCoy, will remain in office after today’s change in government.

In other news:

-The board voted to reject bids submitted for construction work at the Vidalia Port.

When the bids for the work came in recently, the apparent low bid was $11.99 million, well above the engineer’s estimate of $7.5 million.

“They came in significantly higher than anticipated,” Concordia Economic Development Executive Director Heather Malone said. “We are going through the value engineering process and looking at our funding sources to identify what we can take out and still get an operational port.”

-Representatives from Point Man International Ministries presented outgoing Mayor Hyram Copeland with a commemorative POW-MIA poster as thanks for the many times he has partnered with the veteran’s community during his time in office.

-McCoy said that as the city moves forward, addressing the issue of blighted properties, especially in districts 1 and 2, will continue to be a priority.

“If there is one thing we can agree on is we have to address old Vidalia, and that the area leading up to the riverfront needs to be as pretty as the riverfront itself,” he said.