diff --git a/applications/dashboard/controllers/class.dbacontroller.php b/applications/dashboard/controllers/class.dbacontroller.php
index 514fdc47860..c6c661cd900 100644
--- a/applications/dashboard/controllers/class.dbacontroller.php
+++ b/applications/dashboard/controllers/class.dbacontroller.php
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ public function initialize() {
      * @throws Gdn_UserException
      */
     public function counts($Table = false, $Column = false, $From = false, $To = false, $Max = false) {
-        set_time_limit(300);
+        increaseMaxExecutionTime(300);
         $this->permission('Garden.Settings.Manage');
 
         if ($Table && $Column && strcasecmp($this->Request->requestMethod(), Gdn_Request::INPUT_POST) == 0) {
diff --git a/applications/dashboard/models/class.importmodel.php b/applications/dashboard/models/class.importmodel.php
index afdcd9e7fd0..82e15d91e7c 100644
--- a/applications/dashboard/models/class.importmodel.php
+++ b/applications/dashboard/models/class.importmodel.php
@@ -1302,7 +1302,7 @@ protected function _LoadTableLocalInfile($Tablename, $Path) {
      */
     protected function _LoadTableWithInsert($Tablename, $Path) {
         // This option could take a while so set the timeout.
-        set_time_limit(60 * 10);
+        increaseMaxExecutionTime(60 * 10);
 
         // Get the column count of the table.
         $St = Gdn::structure();
@@ -1548,7 +1548,7 @@ public function processImportDb() {
      */
     public function processImportFile() {
         // This one step can take a while so give it more time.
-        set_time_limit(60 * 10);
+        increaseMaxExecutionTime(60 * 10);
 
         $Path = $this->ImportPath;
         $BasePath = dirname($Path).DS.'import';
@@ -1934,7 +1934,7 @@ public function &tables($TableName = '') {
      */
     public function updateCounts() {
         // This option could take a while so set the timeout.
-        set_time_limit(60 * 10);
+        increaseMaxExecutionTime(60 * 10);
 
         // Define the necessary SQL.
         $Sqls = array();
diff --git a/library/core/functions.general.php b/library/core/functions.general.php
index ebf597745be..fe5400d2042 100644
--- a/library/core/functions.general.php
+++ b/library/core/functions.general.php
@@ -4433,3 +4433,31 @@ function userAgentType($value = null) {
         return $type = 'desktop';
     }
 }
+
+if (!function_exists('increaseMaxExecutionTime')) {
+    /**
+     * Used to increase php max_execution_time value.
+     *
+     * @param int $maxExecutionTime PHP max execution time in seconds.
+     * @return bool Returns true if max_execution_time was increased (or stayed the same) or false otherwise.
+     */
+    function increaseMaxExecutionTime($maxExecutionTime) {
+
+        $iniMaxExecutionTime = ini_get('max_execution_time');
+
+        // max_execution_time == 0 means no limit.
+        if ($iniMaxExecutionTime === '0') {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (((string)$maxExecutionTime) === '0') {
+            return set_time_limit(0);
+        }
+
+        if (!ctype_digit($iniMaxExecutionTime) || $iniMaxExecutionTime < $maxExecutionTime) {
+            return set_time_limit($maxExecutionTime);
+        }
+
+        return true;
+    }
+}