The Akron Public School district has a new budget for the next fiscal year in very tough times, but there's a catch.

At a special board meeting at the new STEM High School, APS board members approved a new $296 million general fund budget, with total spending at $515 million.

District treasurer Jack Pierson says the budget - starting the year - is not balanced.

"We passed a resolution for a budget of $296 million, of which we don't have about $4 million to balance with, so we're short about $4 million of revenue right now."

Pierson explains that they hope to make up that shortfall in the coming year by making even more budget cuts.

"However, if that doesn't occur, and we spend the whole $296 million," Pierson tells AkronNewsNow.com, "we will have to get an advance from our self-insurance fund to balance the budget for Fiscal Year 13."

The bad news keeps coming. The Akron district learned this week that it'll lose another $3 million in expected taxes.

Pierson tells AkronNewsNow that much of the loss is due to more tax reimbursement to the city of Akron, and the rest comes from a drop of $35 million in tax valuation.

Board members again signaled that even deeper cuts are in the future, with superintendent David James and staff working on what could be cut.

Pierson says the state auditor will likely give the district a citation, which he calls a "slap on the wrist", for using self-insurance money to allow submitting of a balanced budget.