And it means major hurdles for any campaign promises by Corzine or his opponent, Republican Christopher Christie, that involve significant spending increases or tax cuts.

"There is the prospect, if the economy doesn't begin to turn around next year, that we could be looking at a very, very challenging year next year. Perhaps even more challenging than this," Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D., Camden) said.

Said Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R., Morris), "The seeds of next year's budget woes have once again been sown with this budget."

Democrats noted that the budget for fiscal 2010 is down $4 billion from the $32.9 billion plan Corzine signed last June. When fixed cost increases are factored in, they said, the savings are even more significant.

But most of the cut is due to short-term help or the ignoring of major obligations, not reduced expenses.

The budget "doesn't fix problems. It just creates far bigger ones that will plague us for generations," Sen. Anthony Bucco (R., Morris) said. He said billions of dollars of costs would be pushed "onto the backs of our children and grandchildren."

About $2.2 billion was shifted from the state books to federal stimulus funding.

Most of that aid will expire next year, and the rest is scheduled to be gone in two, leaving the state to pick up the tab again for core programs that have not shrunk.

Corzine said he had used the stimulus dollars exactly as intended, as "a bridge across the recession." The money will support schools and Medicaid, the health-care program for the needy. Virtually every state is relying on federal help to get through the year, he said.

Republicans blasted Corzine for using much of the state's share of help in an election year, leaving less for the next budget.

After stimulus savings, the next-biggest cut is a $940 million reduction in pension payments, which will eventually have to be made up if the state is to pay the retirement benefits promised to teachers, state workers, police, and firefighters.

Corzine's new plan will skip roughly $2.5 billion of required contributions, further damaging the state's ailing retirement system. Combined with the budget ending this month, Corzine in two fiscal years will provide the pension fund with roughly $4.7 billion less than what actuaries say the state should contribute.

The alternative would be more taxes or spending cuts when, Democrats said, the public needs "safety net" programs more than ever.

They said their decisions protected senior citizens, schools, and health care.

"This budget may be a reflection of tough choices, but it also embodies a commitment to our children," Senate Budget Chairwoman Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex) said.

The choices will also create dilemmas in 2010.

Among other moves that will help in the near term, about $456 million is saved by refinancing debt, which could cost more in later years.

A wage freeze will force state workers to go 18 months without an expected raise. But the next budget will include two raises, and, in return for the delay, the deal would block layoffs, taking one cost-cutting option off the table when officials confront the next deficit.

More than $300 million will be rerouted from various programs' surpluses to balance the budget ending this month and the one starting Wednesday, depleting reserves and providing patches that can't be counted on consistently.

Office of Legislative Services analysts predict it all adds up to deficits that could top $6 billion in the near future, equal to about 20 percent of the budget that Corzine is expected to sign tomorrow.

OLS analysts said it could be years before revenue returned to its 2008 peak. And that estimate came before Corzine announced that a tax amnesty had brought in more than $600 million. The money went into property-tax rebates but can't be counted on in the future.

Also not counted in the estimate: a projected $1.6 billion shortfall in the state's unemployment fund, according to business lobbyists who cited government documents.

Republicans say that the looming shortfall is larger, and that budget decisions were a blueprint to get through November's election.

Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R., Burlington) called it "trick-onomics."

"Instead of recognizing that we need drastic reform, the message of this budget is that we are content to worry about today and deny that there will be a problem tomorrow," he said.

The administration, whose budget normally includes an estimate showing projected deficits for the coming year, has not published a figure this year.

Corzine and lawmakers have stressed the trying circumstances that surrounded this budget and, they said, forced many of their decisions. They said Republicans had not offered realistic alternatives.

"I've now been in the Legislature 22 years. I've never seen a budget year like this," Roberts said.

Assembly Budget Chairman Louis Greenwald (D., Camden) said other states were considering cutting education funding or trimming Medicaid rolls. New Jersey, he said, will not.

"Things could be worse and, in fact, are worse for our friends and neighbors in other states," Greenwald said.

Corzine has said his plan focuses on "the right choices" for protecting "the most vulnerable."

And he pointed out that before the economic crisis, his administration had put more into the pension system than any other leaders had in years.

Corzine said he hoped that an economic upswing in 2010 would help revenue recover, and that the Obama administration might provide more aid in the future.

"I would expect that there will be some additional help along the line as we transition from the recession into a growth period," he said.