AUGUSTA – Legislative leaders gathered again at the State House on Monday to continue talks on new state borrowing.

A sufficient narrowing of differences between Democrats and Republicans could set up a special session of the full Senate and House of Representatives for the end of this month. Assessments from participants varied.

The talks extended on and off through the afternoon and into the evening. “I think we’re exceedingly close,” said House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick.

“There’s nothing we’re going to be able to tell you tonight, I’m convinced,” said Senate Minority Leader Paul Davis, R-Sangerville.

Monday night, Kaylene Waindle, communications director of the House Majority Office, issued a statement saying party leaders had reached an agreement on the bond package proposal. The statement did not include any details on a deal, and Waindle could not be reached for further comment.

Monday’s session was the third such meeting since the Legislature adjourned last month.

Passing a bond package to put before voters would require supermajorities of two-thirds in the House and Senate, so some level of bipartisan cooperation would be needed.

In advance of any new special session, there would likely be further discussions within the Appropriations Committee, which has found itself divided along party lines in recent months over budgetary matters.

Last week majority Democrats suggested that talks to date had produced a tentative ceiling on aggregate new bonding of about $100 million.

Democrats have pegged the overall Republican offer somewhere around $75 million.

Major items under discussion have been said to include public land acquisition, highways and support for research and development.

Bonding briefly reached center stage in February when Gov. John Baldacci outlined a proposed package worth $197 million.

Its major provisions included $50 million for land acquisition and conservation, nearly $28 million for highways and bridges and $22 million for a statewide biomedical research and development fund.

Subsequent consideration of the governor’s and numerous other bond proposals was shelved in the shadow of a dispute over non-voter-approved revenue bonding that eventually was scrubbed from the new state budget.