PHOENIX — Ignoring a likely veto, the House and Senate voted Thursday to cut about $260 million in spending and take more than $320 million from other funds to balance the current state budget.

 But not really.

 The measure crafted by Republican legislative leaders sets a target for each state agency of how much less they should spend than they were authorized at the beginning of the budget year. It also directs officials in charge of the special funds not to spend any more out of those accounts.

 House Majority Leader Tom Boone, R-Peoria, said this technically is not a revised budget, acknowedging that efforts are still underway to get an agreement with Democrats — including th governor — on an revised spending plan to bring expenses and revenue into line. Instead, he called it “a management tool’’ to ensure the state doesn’t go any further into debt.

 “This is saying, ‘Do not spend down to not having a balance,’ ‘’ he said.

 But Boone acknowledged that if the Republicans and Gov. Janet

 Napolitano cannot reach a deal, this legislation — assuming it becomes law — would turn those “reserved’’ funds into actual spending reductions. That includes $25 million in combined cuts for the three state universities and taking more than $30 million from the state Department of Economic Security.

 That, however, still would not bring the state’s books into balance: The official estimates put the gap between the tax revenues coming in and the pace that money is being spent at $1.2 billion. Boone acknowledged there is not yet any real plan to make up that gap.

 That fact did not escape Gov. Janet Napolitano who all but promised late Thursday to veto the measure when it reaches her desk next week.

 “The governor has said that a budget should not be presented to her in a piece-meal fashion,’’ press aide Shilo Mitchell said.

 Mitchell also said the governor wants “a bipartisan process,’’ with the interests of Democrat lawmakers taken into account, an not simply the Republican legislative majority adopting its own plan.

 Lawmakers also learned Thursday the financial picture actually may get bleaker.

 The state’s Finance Advisory Committee, made up of economists and other financial experts, reported the tax collections between no and when the fiscal year ends June 30 could be even lower than anticipated. The result, according to panel members, could add another $200 million to the deficit.

 Thursday’s House and Senate votes, with Republicans in favor an Democrats against, reflect the ongoing stalemate in figuring out how to deal with the financial crunch.

 At the heart of the problem is that tax collections for the first seven months of the fiscal year which began July 1 are $62 million below the projections when lawmakers first adopted the $10.6 billion spending plan.

 What has happened since then has been some closed-door negotiations which have not produced a deal — and some public finger pointing about who is to blame for the fact the budget year is two-thirds gone and still out of balance.

 Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, said there would not be a need for this “stop-gap measure’’ if the Republican leadership would simply adopt the proposal by Napolitano to make up the gap.

 That includes some one-time spending cuts, deferrals of other

 expenses, taking some money out of the rainy day fund — and

 borrowing $400 million for school construction rather than paying

 cash. That last item in particular has been a sticking point

 among Republicans who want deeper and permanent reductions in

 state budgets.

 Democrat lawmakers have said borrowing makes sense for

 construction of buildings. They compared it to taking out a

 mortgage to buy a house rather than trying to pay cash.

 But House Majority Whip John McCommish said that’s an invalid

 comparison.

 “At the state we’re buying 35 houses a year, which is our (new)

 schools and we’re not moving out of them,’’ he said.

 “Next year we’re going to buy another 35 houses and the year

 after that another 35 houses,’’ McCommish continued. “So it has

 nothing to do with a parallel to buying a mortgage.’’

 House Speaker Jim Weiers said the governor — and her legislative

 Democrat allies — have not really been interested in any

 solution that meaningfully cuts state spending. Instead, he said,

 much of Napolitano’s plan amounts to “bonding, borrowing,

 gimmicks.’’

 “That’s not the way you get out of this,’’ he said. Weiers said

 actual spending cuts proposed by Napolitano amount to just 1

 percent of the budget.

 “That is not rolling up your sleeves,’’ he said. “That’s not even

 breaking a perspiration.’’

 Sen. Jorge Garcia, D-Tucson, said it has been the Republicans

 unwilling to negotiate in good faith. He said Democrats will not

 “roll over’’ and simply accept the kind of cuts the GOP majority

 wants.

 Borrowing aside, Garcia said the governor has presented viable

 plans to balance both the current and next year’s budget. That

 includes generating $90 million in new cash in fines from the 170

 photo radar cameras that would be deployed around the state.

 But Garcia, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Republicans

 have refused to even consider it.

 Napolitano has consistently defended her plan for only small

 spending cuts, predicting the economic downturn is only

 temporary. She also has said permanent spending reductions would

 do serious harm to education and other services for Arizonans.

 Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said that ignores what he said

 pegged as a 14.5 percent increase in state spending on average

 over each of the past three years. He said the state is simply

 spending beyond its means.

 And Sen. Bob Burns, R-Peoria, said the kind of temporary fixes

 Napolitano is proposing ignores projections putting the deficit

 for the coming fiscal year as large as $2 billion.

 “It’s time that we talk about how to fix the problem rather than

 talk about to protect the spending lines in the budget.