Sacramento --

California faces deep midyear cuts to its universities, community colleges, social service programs and public schools - which may have their year shortened - because the state will collect billions of dollars less in revenue than expected, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report by the Legislative Analyst's Office says the state faces a budget deficit in the current fiscal year largely because it will collect only $300 million of $4 billion that Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature added to the budget just days before it was approved in June. Critics had called the sudden infusion of projected revenue "phantom money" that was conjured to avoid deeper spending cuts.

The report says California also faces a budget deficit in the 2012-13 fiscal year of $13 billion, though that is significantly less than what the state has faced in prior years of the economic downturn.

The current revenue projection does not ensure the automatic cuts will be made, as it is one of two revenue reports that will be used to make that determination. The second report will come from the Department of Finance next month, and administration officials will select the rosier of the two projections to decide whether the cuts will take place on Jan. 1.

The director of the Department of Finance, Ana Matosantos, will make the final determination by Dec. 15. In a statement, Matosantos said, "Some level of trigger cuts will likely occur, but the exact amount will be known in December."

Overall, the analyst found that the state will collect $84.8 billion in revenue for this entire fiscal year while the enacted budget relied on $88.5 billion in revenue. Mac Taylor, the legislative analyst, said the Finance Department's projections could be as much as $2 billion higher or lower than his office's numbers.

If department officials conclude that the state will indeed bring in more money, cuts to K-12 public schools and community colleges may be avoided.

Just-in-case cuts

Brown negotiated the automatic cuts as part of the budget in case the $4 billion failed to materialize.

Gil Duran, Brown's spokesman, said, "California's budget gap is the result of a decade of poor fiscal choices and a global recession. This year, we cut the problem in half. Next year, we'll continue to make the tough choices necessary until the problem is solved."

The automatic spending cuts are separated into two tiers, and because the projections are so dire, most of the cuts planned in both tiers would be likely under the legislative analyst's projection.

The first tier, just over $600 million, includes $100 million in cuts each to the University of California and California State University systems.

Also impacted would be services for people with developmental disabilities and the In-Home Supportive Services program. Both also would take a $100 million cut.

Many other services face multimillion-dollar reductions, including state grants for local libraries and state-sponsored child care.

The second tier of cuts could include up to $1.4 billion to K-12 schools and might mean reducing the school year by several days and eliminating school buses. Community colleges also would take a $72 million cut.

Bickering returns

Lawmakers reacted sharply to the analyst's projections, with many Republicans saying it proves the ruling Democrats passed a gimmick-filled budget that failed to control spending, while several Democrats called for the Legislature to work with the governor to find ways to avoid making the midyear cuts.

Democrats also said voters need to approve additional taxes in next fall's election. Brown is expected to announce plans for a ballot initiative in the near future.

"Today's numbers make it clear that the state's first priority must be to get to the ballot in November and raise needed revenues to avoid any more damage to Californians," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "The notion of cutting deeper into education, public safety and services for those in need is unthinkable. I imagine an overwhelming majority of Californians agree."

Republicans said they weren't surprised by the call for taxes.

"Anyone could have predicted that it would take legislative Democrats less than five minutes to say they plan to sidestep the trigger cuts they voted for and raise taxes instead," said Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga (San Bernardino County).

No Republicans voted in June for the budget, which included deep cuts to higher education and social and health services.

As California grapples with its latest fiscal fiasco, officials do not know how the congressional debt-reduction supercommittee's actions will impact the state. They could significantly help or hurt the budget, though the impacts probably won't be felt for another year.