Dwindling revenues are taking a toll on California’s community colleges, and state leaders are worried that greater losses could occur under the governor’s new budget plan if new money isn’t found.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget plan calls for $8 billion in cuts, and twice that amount in new revenues to close the $16 billion deficit, state leaders said Tuesday.

For community colleges, full or empty coffers are dependent on three main revenue sources, California Community College Chancellor Jack Scott and Community College League of California CEO Scott Lay said Tuesday.

Those revenue sources are Brown’s tax measures on the November ballot, revenue from the upcoming Facebook initial public offering and redevelopment agency funds captured from cities and counties, Scott and Lay said.

Brown’s budget package assumes voters will approve a temporary increase in personal income tax on the state’s wealthiest taxpayers and also increase sales tax by one-quarter percent for four years.

Without the tax package, more cuts would be required and community colleges would take another $300 million hit, Lay said.

All public schools, including community colleges, would be sliced by $5.5 billion, and the University of California and California State University systems would be cut by $250 million each if the tax measures fail.

“It’s all contingent on the passage of the tax initiative in November,” said John Nahlen, Napa Valley College vice president of

business and finance.

NVC is taking potential funding cuts into consideration, Nahlen said. Similarly, Solano Community College is also building its budget on the assumption the tax measures will fail.

“At this point we don’t really know what the impact is going to be,” SCC President Jowel Laguerre said. “Support for the governor’s tax measures is very important. Things are getting tougher.”

The budget package also relies on captured redevelopment agency money from cities and other local entities. But Lay said the money hasn’t materialized yet and it’s not certain that community colleges should depend on that source.

Likewise, Scott said too much is at stake for higher education officials to quibble over the November tax measures.

“The state of California has taken a big hit in revenues and that has hurt colleges badly,” Scott said. “Thousands of students who need education are being turned away.”

The tax initiatives, if they pass, could restore funding levels to what they were in 2007 or 2008, Scott said.

Meanwhile, a new Public Policy Institute of California report released this week concluded that fewer young people are going to college due to the state budget cuts.

In particular, enrollment rates at UC and CSU schools have fallen by 20 percent in the last five years.

Many opt for overcrowded community colleges, but enrollment increases at the two-year schools do not make up for the decline, according to the report.

Increased tuition and fees have had the most dramatic impact, but students have also cited greater difficulties in finding classes, the report noted.