SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released a tight-fisted spending plan on Wednesday that he said would eliminate the state’s operating deficit for the first time in nearly a decade. It also would clear the way for California to afford another round of massive borrowing for public works projects.

The proposal drew a mixed response from Democrats including Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, who expressed enthusiasm for the governor’s ambitious agenda as well as concern about the prospect of more bond-related debt.

The governor’s $143.4 billion budget would limit general fund spending increases to less than 1 percent in the 2007-08 fiscal year, the smallest such increase in five years. “It is a prudent and realistic budget, a budget that lives within our means but still provides crucial services for the people,” Schwarzenegger said.

The spending plan also would put the state on track to pay off early the billions in borrowing voters approved in 2004 to bail out the state after the dot-com crash. The bonds would be paid off in 2009, 14 years ahead of schedule.

That move appeared designed to free state resources to cover $43.3 billion in new borrowing for construction of schools, prisons, dams and other projects that Schwarzenegger proposed Tuesday in his state of the state address. That would be on top of the $42.7 billion in bond spending California voters approved in November.

Local officials are eyeing the budget for its potential impact on the Napa River-Napa Creek Flood Protection Project, which gets much of its funding from a local sales tax and the federal government, but counts on tens of millions of dollars from the state.

Evans noted that the governor’s proposal shifted $200 million away from the $800 million in last year’s Proposition 84 for local flood control projects and placed it in the general fund for the current operating year.

It is not yet clear whether that means a net loss for flood control in the future. Napa flood control spokesman Barry Martin noted the local project received $13 million in so-called state subvention funds this year, and said the budget shift might cover action the state has already taken.

If that is not the case, Evans said, she would fight any effort to reduce spending on local flood control effort.

The new bond proposals Schwarzenegger outlined earlier this week included $100 million to renovate the Veterans Home of California in Yountville.

‘Ambitious’ plan

Evans said she was pleased that the budget proposal includes full funding for community colleges and for public education in general.

“That’s a really exciting thing,” said Evans, one of many Democrats who have jousted with the governor on education spending in the past.

Evans noted that the governor has laid out an ambitious, bipartisan agenda for the coming year, addressing issues from health care coverage for the uninsured to tackling major problems in the state prison system.

“Overall, he’s got a very visionary and very ambitious strategy,” she said. “It’s a really good start.”

But Evans expressed concern about $500 million in proposed cuts to social welfare programs and teachers’ pension programs, and cautioned about the $43 billion in new bonds the governor intends to seek. She called the prospect for more debt “frightening.”

“If the governor gets his way, we will have $100 billion of debt. That is staggering. I am concerned about passing that kind of burden along to our children,” she said. “I question whether the voters are going to want to (approve more bonds) so soon after doing it last year.”

Evans said the governor’s plan puts pressure on legislative Republicans.

“The governor has set forth a strong bipartisan agenda, and because it takes a two-thirds vote to pass the budget, the real question is whether legislative Republicans be willing to support any or all of this.”

The debate over the budget will take place over the next several months, with legislators expected to approve the final document by July 1.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, praised Schwarzenegger’s attempt to balance the budget but criticized his planned cuts to welfare recipients.

“The last thing we want to do is balance the budget on the backs of single mothers and their children,” he said.

Register Managing Editor Bill Kisliuk contributed to this report.