"We are up some in a few tax categories, down in others," said Ball. But come July 1, when the new fiscal year starts, "we should be OK" starting out into the new budget.

That's because legislators trimmed state budgets around 15 percent, "backfilling" most of those budgets with one-time monies to achieve 7 percent spending cuts.

Utah also has a $417 million Rainy Day fund that could be tapped to make up some of the "gap" in fiscal 2011.

"We can't anticipate now what (tax) revenues will be like" come July 1, 2010, said Ball. But those estimates will be made this coming December and updated in late February 2010.

And then, toward the end of the Legislature's 2010 session, Utah lawmakers must rebalance the fiscal 2010 spending plan and adopt the 2011 budget — facing more budget cuts and/or tax hikes.

E-MAIL: bbjr@desnews.com