The entire budget process has been two parts pain and one part folly, including a moment in June when lawmakers, facing a midnight deadline, tried to metaphysically halt the fiscal year by taking the clock down from the Senate wall. They are also considering mortgaging the state Capitol as well as a historically significant limestone cave system owned by the state.

Ms. Brewer’s reputation as a conservative has been damaged by her proposal to raise the sales tax, and some of her colleagues in the party, which is dominated by conservatives, have whispered about challenging her in the 2010 Republican primary.

“The economic downturn has created a very difficult scenario for any elected official who is a fiscal conservative,” Paul Senseman, Ms. Brewer’s director of communications, said in an interview.

Arizona finds itself in a worst-case scenario among states that have been hammered by the foreclosure crisis. One of the fastest-growing areas in the country for years, the state has seen its population  and needs  explode over the last decade, and development has more than helped cover the costs.

Image Shoppers like these in downtown Phoenix may face an increase in the state sales tax. Credit... Laura Segall for The New York Times

The state’s principal revenue source is its 5.5 percent sales tax (with city tax added on, the average tax is about 9 percent), followed by the personal income tax and the corporate tax. Counties and school districts collect property taxes.

With the number of new building permits plummeting, revenues from the big-ticket items associated with new homes, which had fueled much of the state’s budget in recent years, also fell.