SACRAMENTO (AP) – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to end the stalemate over a state budget last week by offering a compromise spending plan that calls for a temporary one percent sales tax increase and additional cuts.

In the past, the governor has said he is against raising taxes.

But with the budget nearly two months overdue, he said it is time to move beyond partisan ideology. He said Republicans and Democrats must find a middle ground between taxes and cuts to state programs.

California was supposed to have a budget in place by July 1, the start of the fiscal year, but lawmakers differ over how to close the $15.2 billion deficit.

“This compromise budget proposal puts our state on the road to fiscal sanity and will give California a budget that works,” he said at a news conference.

Republicans have been adamant about not raising taxes, while Democrats proposed a combination of cuts and tax increases.

Schwarzenegger’s latest proposal seeks $9.9 billion in cuts and a temporary sales tax increase that is projected to generate $4 billion in the current fiscal year and slightly more in the following two years. The state sales tax would then be permanently reduced by one-quarter percent below its current level after three years, Schwarzenegger said.

The state currently collects 7.25 percent in sales tax, with one percent of that automatically sent back to local governments. Many local entities add their own increases.

The governor’s plan also includes a formula for a rainy day fund to smooth out state spending when the economy declines. Schwarzenegger said when fully funded, the rainy day fund would be 12.5 percent of the state’s general fund, which is projected to be about $103.4 billion this year.