Leaders Push for Budget Accord : Finances: Governor and key lawmakers hold long weekend sessions. Sources say compromises are made, but deal could unravel and lead to lengthy stalemate.

SACRAMENTO —  Gov. Pete Wilson and legislative leaders returned to the bargaining table Sunday in a make-or-break negotiating session aimed at avoiding another prolonged stalemate over the state budget.

Wilson and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate and Assembly had met through the day Saturday until about 1 a.m. Sunday, unable to nail down consensus on a $50-billion-plus budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The five leaders, known in the Capitol as the Big Five, returned to Wilson’s office Sunday afternoon to discuss local government issues and seek a way to close out a few sticking points, which neither the leaders nor their aides would identify.

Their strategy was to complete an agreement and rush it to the floors of the Assembly and Senate for votes Sunday night, hoping to persuade reluctant lawmakers that the proposal’s best redeeming value was that it would offend nearly everyone.

“This is the ultimate Hail Mary play,” said one Administration official, in a reference to the long, last-second pass that football teams often throw in a desperate attempt to win a game.

Some details were leaking out even as Wilson and legislative leaders were trying to agree on the final package. All the elements, however, were subject to change at any time before the complete proposal was unveiled.

Sources said, for instance, that the leaders had agreed to a 50% increase in community college fees--from $10 a unit to $15 a unit, with a cap of $300 per year. That would actually mean a fee reduction for full-time students, who take 15 units a semester.

The leaders also agreed to limit funding for education to $4,187 per student, the level Wilson had been insisting on, sources said. But in a compromise, they agreed to find savings for the schools--possibly in workers’ compensation premiums--that would have the effect of freeing up more money for the classroom.

Democratic leaders reportedly agreed to restore $400 million in prison funding that the budget-writing conference committee had deleted from Wilson’s proposed spending plan. In return, Wilson dropped demands for deeper cuts in health, welfare and higher education programs.

The centerpiece of the tentative deal--and its most controversial element--is a plan to shift $2.6 billion in property tax revenue from local government to the schools. Every dollar of local money transferred to the schools saves the state a dollar it otherwise would be obligated to give education from its own treasury.

To help local government survive the loss of that money, Wilson and Brown have endorsed extending for six months a temporary half-cent surcharge on the state sales tax that is due to expire June 30. The money would be shifted to the counties until Dec. 31. In November, voters would be asked on a county-by-county basis to make the tax permanent.

Sunday was the Legislature’s self-imposed deadline for extending the tax, because state tax collectors have said they need about 10 days to notify retailers if they are to keep the levy at its current level. Officially, however, the tax can be extended at any time before it expires.

If the tax lapses, government coffers will be $1.4 billion poorer over the next 12 months, creating a budgeting gap that few here believe could be filled without considerable rancor and lengthy delay.

Even with the promise of a sales tax extension, however, local government officials still were seeking to derail the budget plan Sunday.

Ed Edelman, chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, flew to Sacramento on Sunday afternoon to wage his own, personal lobbying effort.

“It’s the supervisor’s feeling that the state needs to meet its own spending obligations with its own revenue resources,” Joel Bellman, a spokesman for Edelman, said in an interview.

Edelman was accompanied by County Sheriff Sherman Block, Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford and Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti. City Controller Rick Tuttle also was headed to the Capitol. The delegation hoped to meet with both Wilson and Brown as soon as members arrived.

It appeared as Sunday wore on that the local officials might be winning support for their position from rank-and-file lawmakers, who were growing increasingly irritated with the cloak of secrecy surrounding the leadership talks.

Sen. Alfred E. Alquist, (D-San Jose) a leader of the Senate-Assembly conference committee on the budget, complained in a letter to Wilson that the private talks were cutting his panel, and other concerned legislators, out of the action. He said the committee was particularly concerned about the proposed property tax shift.

“We are concerned,” Alquist wrote, “that solutions worked out behind closed doors and without public review at the last moment by you may not reflect the views of the elected officials who have been engaged in working to resolve the budget issues since last January.”

Wilson aides said the governor planned to meet with Alquist to explain his position.