Gov. Mark Dayton said on Wednesday he’ll reject the Republican budget bills being finalized this week at the state Capitol, almost ensuring the state won’t have a balanced budget by the time the Legislature wraps up its session Monday.

"I will be rejecting the bills and sending them back to leadership,” Dayton told reporters on Wednesday, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

On the subject of ending the session on time, the governor remained gloomy.

“I’m still pessimistic,” he said. “I’d very much like to be pleasantly surprised.”

Tension between Dayton and the Republican majority escalated this week as the two sides seek a solution to Minnesota’s $5 billion budget deficit.

Rhetoric from both sides that has been building all week rose again on Wednesday.

Republicans criticized the governor’s leadership and said his negotiation style is “erratic,” “mercurial” and “fleeting,” repeating the same  message used against Dayton during the gubernatorial campaign.

House Speaker Kurt Zellers called attempting to negotiate with Dayton “like nailing Jell-o to a tree.”

The criticismw were familair, with each side blaming the other for the breakdown in negotiations and lack of progress.

GOP leaders, who have been working around the clock to pass the budget bills, said their work could be complete as soon as Thursday. Each bill will be sent to the governor as it’s passed, giving him three days to use his veto pen.

Dayton called the Republican budget process a “charade” and said his commissioners didn’t have much of an opportunity to engage with lawmakers. The governor has long warned lawmakers that he wouldn’t begin negotiating until all the conference committee reports had been posted.

Now that many have been signed, it’s too late to pull them back.

“There hasn’t been any opportunity for us to negotiate with them,” he said.

The Republicans countered that Dayton hadn’t authorized his state agency commissioners to effectively negotiate on the budget bills and that they’re sick of his inaction.

“It’s hard to have words to say what I feel about the governor’s leadership or lack thereof on this issue,” Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch said.

Beneath the harsh language lies the same problem that has plagued Dayton and the Republicans since the beginning of session.

On the GOP’s hard-line, no-new-taxes $34 billion budget, Dayton maintains: “That’s not reasonable, that’s not responsible, that’s not going to happen.”

On the possibility of increased revenue: “If it’s just that [Dayton] wants to raise taxes, then he wants to go to a special session,” Deputy Senate Majority Leader Geoff Michel said.

If a budget agreement can’t be reached by the end of June, a partial government shutdown would begin July 1.