Despite a winter that didn’t appear ever wanting to end and continued sluggishness in the general economy, Belmont’s only bank headquartered in the “Town of Homes” had a spring in its step over the first three months of the year.

BSB Bancorp, the holding company for Belmont Savings Bank located in Belmont Center, reported a strong first quarter of 2014, according the bank’s CEO.

“The quarter was marked by significant loan and deposit growth which fueled the bottom line improvement.  Core expense growth has slowed and credit quality remains good,” said Robert Mahoney, BSB Bancorp’s president and CEO, who in February was selected the “most admired CEO of a small or mid-sized company” in the state by the Boston Business Journal.

As a result, net income came in at $680,000, or 8 cents per basic and diluted share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared to net income of $416,000, or 5 cents per basic and diluted share, in the first quarter of 2013.

The bank’s stock, under the symbol BLMT and sold on the NASDAQ, is off its 52-week high of $18.65 and closed yesterday, April 23, at $17.07.

Net loan growth increased by slightly more than 10 percent over the final three months of 2013 or about $88.6 million in new loans with more than half commercial loans.

Deposits at the bank’s six full-service branches in Belmont, Newton, Waltham, Watertown and Cambridge totaled $827.7 million, an increase of $63.0 million or 8.2 percent from the $764.8 million the bank had on Dec. 31.

As of March 31, total assets for the business were $1.2 billion, an increase of $114.4 million or 10.8 percent from the $1.1 billion at the end of last year.

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