AUGUSTA – A new round of partisan bickering undercut whatever advances in bipartisan cooperation came out of the latest budget talks among ranking Democrats and Republicans.

House and Senate leaders appear to have scrapped a freshly hatched plan to write a letter to Gov. Angus King formally asking him to submit a budget-balancing bill as soon as possible.

Legislative aides said Friday the proposed letter was shelved after the various offices involved in drafting it were unable to agree on what it should say.

The breakdown, according to aides, appeared to stem largely from a Republican insistence on a specific time frame and a Democratic reluctance to lay out specific dates.

House and Senate leaders originally settled on the idea of drafting a letter to the governor at a State House meeting Thursday morning.

King is expected to submit a supplemental budget bill with or without special urging, but not until some time after a state revenue forecasting panel issues its new projections.

The panel meets for what is expected to be its final decision-making session Wednesday.

On Friday, top gubernatorial aide Kay Rand said the administration wanted to be responsive to the desires of lawmakers, but she would not set a target for when a governor’s bill would be ready.

“That’s what we’re working toward and we’ll do it as soon as we can. We’re looking at a pretty significant fluctuation in what the number might end up being,” she said, adding that administration officials would want to talk more with House and Senate leaders.

Rand said King had scheduled the latest in a series of budget review sessions with administration officials for Friday afternoon.

“Whether we get the letter or not, we’re in consultation with leadership and will continue to be,” Rand said.

Asked what new budget-balancing options were under consideration, Rand declined to provide details beyond “additional spending reductions.”

According to a legislative staff analysis prepared for House and Senate leaders this week, King to date has “identified savings” of $147.5 million that could be applied to a 2003 budget shortfall in the $220 million range.

If those were accepted in full, that could leave $72.5 million or more yet to be addressed, according to the staff analysis.

“We’ve been working to find it since June,” Rand said Friday.