Carroll County Schools are looking at some mid-year cuts to cope with revenue that is not keeping up with projections.

The school system is facing revenue losses of over $3 million and is trying to find ways to cut expenses without affecting the classroom.

The losses include $1.4 million the state cut from the system’s allotment but has continued to pay to the school district, said Chief Financial Officer Greg Denney. The system still doesn’t know how that money is going to be collected, he said.

The estimated losses also include a mid-term adjustment by the Legislature that the system is confident will not materialize this year, along with uncollected property taxes and lower tax revenue because of the economy’s woes.

“We’ve got to make some adjustments to the budget that we’re currently under,” Denney said.

Superintendent John Zauner sent out e-mails to the schools and other system departments asking for an update on spending and suggestions to save the system money. So far, the system has identified $1.1 million, the majority, $565,000, from the transportation department.

“A big one is fuel cost,” Denney said. “We had $3.80 a gallon for fuel versus the last we paid was actually at about $2.25 a gallon. We’ve used $2.45 in this analysis.”

The fuel savings alone are $408,000.

The school system will also cut back on field trips to save an estimated $75,000, he said.

Another $309,000 in savings would be gleaned from the maintenance funds. However, that still leaves nearly $2 million that needs to be cut to balance this year’s budget.

“We’re still looking for any other savings that we can to help offset some of the revenue loss,” Denney said.

The problem will continue with next year’s budget when the system will have to cut an estimated $5.8 million, he said.

“Basically, Carroll County has had no growth in the digest this year,” said Denney, who consulted with the tax assessor to get an estimate.

The system will take another hit on property tax revenues after the county’s voters approved a referendum to eliminate the school portion of property taxes for residents 65 and older. The school system will lose about $1 million from the tax break, he said.

The school is also projecting even deeper austerity cuts from the state next year as the state’s revenue continues to fall.

In addition, the system is looking at losing money to falling enrollment after having lost a few students this year, Denney said.

“Even if we approve a millage increase to the max, we can’t get that much money,” said board member John Stephens.

The school system may realize a little savings from the State Board of Education’s recent decision to raise the maximum number of students in the classroom.

“You wouldn’t think one or two students would make an impact, but it’s going to make a significant impact on our allotment,” Superintendent Zauner said.

He hopes to handle any loss of teacher allotments through attrition, rather than layoffs, he said. However, the school is still looking through the letters of intent from teachers to see how many are planning to stay with the system and estimating how many teachers they will be allotted under the new rules, he said.

“I anticipate that’s going to be probably pretty critical,” Zauner said. “They’re going to cross at some point. We’ll just have to see where they do.”

Board members elected the chair and vice chair for the new year. Donald Nixon won re-election as chairman of the board against John Stephens by a vote of 4 to 3. Bart Cater refused a nomination for vice chair and instead nominated Dorothy Burton-Callaway. She lost the seat to Mike Huckeba on a vote of 4 to 3.