Error: Backup too large, but I have more than it needs

Today I started getting a funny Time Machine Error:
"This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 4.3 GB but only 4.6 GB are available."
Yes, you read that right. It requires less than is available and still fails with this error. What's going on?
More to the point, how do I fix this short of excluding items to backup? I thought TM would start dumping the old backup items to make room for the new. This obviously isn't happening.

Exactly. I captured two of the screens with that type of error message. Here's a link to one of them.
http://www.dt-concepts.com/images/error3.png
Also, why doesn't the system just remove the oldest backup? I thought that was supposed to happen automatically.
Randy

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billsharar wrote:
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Hi, and welcome to the forums.
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Error: Backup too large, but I have more than it needs

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