PROVIDENCE –– The Rhode Island legislature on Wednesday is set to release a proposed state budget for the coming year that seeks to close the largest deficit in recent memory.

Few Rhode Islanders would escape the impact of the General Assembly’s most significant piece of legislation for the year. The budget package is likely to include sweeping cuts to the public employee pension system, major reductions in state aid for cities and towns, and a host of new fees and tax changes.

But top lawmakers have refused to publicly release any details so far.

“I haven’t heard a thing,” Dan Beardsley, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, said Monday. “But I’m not looking forward to it.”

Indeed, interest groups are bracing for bad news across the board.

The Assembly, charged by state law with passing a balanced budget, is faced with filling a gap of $590 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Governor Carcieri in March released his own budget plan, but since then the state’s financial health has only worsened. At the time, he had proposed a rash of unpopular cuts, such as doing away with a prescription drug program for the elderly, eliminating dental care for 38,000 low-income parents on state-subsidized health care, and removing 28 pregnant women from the state’s “payer of last resort” health-insurance program.

But it is the Assembly that will ultimately decide how to close the deficit. And it must go deeper, closing a combined hole of roughly 19 percent of state spending.

The House Finance Committee is scheduled to unveil its recommendations Wednesday at 1 p.m. in State House Room 35. The plan will contain dozens of budget articles relating to everything from subsidized health-care programs to tax policy.

“Conjecture has it there will be some changes on the revenue side,” said John Simmons, executive director of the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

Simmons said he was aware of high-level discussions involving potential changes in the state’s tax rate on capital gains and the alternative flat tax, among others. “But until you see it, it’s all rumors in the hallways.”

House Democrats are scheduled to meet behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon to discuss the budget plan. And senators are set to meet the next day.

“At this point it is fluid. I don’t think anything’s been firmly decided,” said Sen. Charles J. Levesque, D-Portsmouth. But “the broad outlines we’ve known about for a while.”

Specifically, Levesque said there isn’t broad support for raising new taxes or going after the already depleted state work force to close the deficit.

“There aren’t that many places where you could get the type of money you’re talking about — especially if you’re not talking about enhancing revenues,” he said, specifically noting expected cuts in state aid to municipalities and broad pension changes.

House leaders, though a spokesman, declined to comment on their specific plans. And their State House offices were virtually empty yesterday, as many attended an annual charity golf tournament hosted by House Speaker William J. Murphy.

After the Finance Committee votes to endorse the state budget, which it is expected to do Wednesday, House rules require a seven-day waiting period before the full House is allowed to vote on the plan.

The Senate, with no such rules, could vote on the plan the following day.

speoples@projo.com