WELLS — The Wells Board of Selectmen discussed the challenge of balancing the budget at a workshop Tuesday after three ballot items totaling around $600,000 failed during the June Town Meeting vote.

According to Town Manager Jonathan Carter, the difficulty with the budget began at the beginning of the fiscal year budget cycle, when the Board of Selectmen expressed a desire to build up the town’s “rainy day” fund.

Because of Wells’ debt fund balance policy, this meant that the town could no longer use budget surplus to balance the budget, resulting in an estimated budget exceeding the LD 1 property tax limit.

The budget board voted against this increase, while selectmen voted to send it to residents, where it was defeated at the ballot. The budget for these specific capital improvement expenditures reverted back to the previous year’s allocation, which meant the town needed to reevaluate its finances.

“The materials the Board of Selectmen asked for was a more global review of our financial position,” Carter said at the Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday. He and Finance Director Jodie L. Sanborn “put together a five-year budget projection and ways in which we could grow while maintaining a budget that met LD 1.”

Carter said that he and the selectmen decided to meet in a workshop on July 21 to discuss the recommendations after reviewing the comprehensive financial picture.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Karl Ekstedt said that the June vote delivered a clear mandate to the municipality, and that they must take the responsibility seriously.

“This is going to be a challenging endeavor but we basically are all in the agreement that we’re going to turn the budget inside out, and take more of a businesslike approach to our budget,” Ekstedt said. “We’re looking to make some unique and wholesale changes to how we do business.”

Residents opposed Article 14, which would have allowed the town to increase the property tax levy limit above what state law dictates for Wells, by a 1,125-114 vote.

Voters also shot down two articles dedicated to funding capital improvement projects, which would have allowed the town to raise and appropriate $2.7 million to fund its capital improvement plan; and Article 10, which would have allowed the town to spend $2.64 million of those funds on various capital improvement projects, including building and infrastructure repairs, was defeated by a 963-236 vote.