The Rome City Schools system anticipates about a $5-million shortfall in its 60-month SPLOST that ends next year, though construction of the new Anna K. Davie Elementary School likely will be unaffected, a school official said Tuesday.

Steve Atha, the school system’s finance director, spoke Tuesday at the Rome Board of Education’s monthly meeting. During the meeting, Atha focused on January’s special purpose, local option sales tax collections, which were some $185,000 less than anticipated for the month.

Based on previous collections, Atha estimated that only $25 million for city schools would be collected over the 60 months of the SPLOST’s lifetime. Some $30.1 million in collections was anticipated for the city system during the same time.

That means the school system will have about $5.1 million less than it expected when SPLOST III expires in March 2014, Atha said.

Both the city and Floyd County schools receive funds from the SPLOST.

“We’re mindful of the fact that we could receive less,” he added.

A number of projects on the school system’s list already have been completed, including the purchase of new technology, Atha said.

The project currently on the front burner is the construction of the new Anna K. Davie school. Atha said he believes enough funding exists to construct the school, which is scheduled to open in August 2014.

In other matters, the board:

 Heard from Russell McClanahan and Logan Boss about the old Howell Grocery building, 601 S. Broad St. McClanahan said the historic building is slated for demolition to make way for the new Anna K. Davie school.

“If this building is allowed to disappear, we believe that Rome will lose a part of its history,” McClanahan said. “This building does not have a voice, so we are here to speak for it.”

 Voted unanimously to enter an executive session to discuss personnel and real estate. Board member Chris Wilson was absent Tuesday.

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