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SACRAMENTO — Each May for the last four years, California lawmakers received a pleasant surprise as higher-than-expected income tax returns let them spend some extra money and cut taxes. 

This year, state budget writers warn, the fondly remembered “May Surprise” will be more of a springtime shock. A slowing economy, coupled with the power crisis siphoning money from the state treasury, could force lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis to shave billions from the 2001-02 budget. 

In turn, that may lead to the first real fights over spending priorities between the Democratic governor and a Democratic Legislature since Davis took office in 1999. 

“The party’s over,” said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, a fiscal watchdog group. 

Each day, as lawmakers finish a budget larger than that of most nations, more signs of financial trouble emerge. On Tuesday, the bond rating firm Standard and Poors lowered its credit rating on California state bonds, citing the energy crisis. A lower bond rating effectively raises the state’s costs of borrowing money. 

State Treasurer Phil Angelides is lobbying legislators this week to approve selling bonds to help pay back the general fund for more than $5.7 billion in power buys since January. 

As they prepare for the bond sale, state officials also await the final numbers from April’s tax returns, knowing all the while that a nationwide economic slowdown, particularly in the technology industry, will cut some state revenues. 

“It’s safe to say there won’t be this huge windfall that we’ve had the last few years,” said Sandy Harrison, spokesman for the governor’s Department of Finance. 

In January, Davis proposed a $104.7 billion budget that, he said, would tackle California’s energy crisis, boost teacher training and give shoppers a three-day sales tax suspension. 

Davis will release his revised budget, adjusted to reflect the amount the state receives from 2000 income and capital gains taxes, on May 14. 

The governor hopes to sign the final budget, which goes into effect July 1, by the end of June. 

This year, however, not only will Davis and legislators face their most uncertain tax climate in years, they may also “have a lot more of a tug-of-war ... on priorities than we saw last year,” said Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, an Arleta Democrat who chairs the joint committee writing the state’s budget. 

Cardenas and other lawmakers already have said they may oppose Davis’ $1 billion proposal to keep middle-school students in class for six weeks longer each year. 

This comes as Angelides works with lawmakers to approve selling revenue bonds to repay the general fund for energy purchases. 

A key part of the budget, Angelides told a Sacramento group Tuesday, will be $4 billion worth of interim loans he negotiated with three banks. He said the loans could be in jeopardy, however, unless the Legislature gives the state permission in the next week to issue bonds to repay them. 

“We need enough at least to get the ball rolling so we can conclude our interim financing and start paying back the general fund,” Angelides said. 

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On the Net: See the governor’s budget at www.governor.ca.gov or the Department of Finance at www.dof.ca.gov