Hartford - With the General Assembly's deadline looming, members of the Republican minority said Saturday they've withdrawn from budget talks, saying the governor and Democrats are close to reaching a deal that doesn't solve Connecticut's fiscal woes.

Republicans claim recent news of improved tax collections has stifled serious discussion of paring state government, such as consolidating agencies, privatizing state services and reducing the state employee work force.

April 15 tax collections show the state will bring in about $350 million more than originally budgeted for this year and next, much of it coming from income taxes.

"It appears that the will of the majority is now simply to put a Band-Aid on the problem and not try and seek to fix the problem," said Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield.

The GOP decided to stop participating in the talks following a private meeting Friday night, called by fellow Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, with the General Assembly's leadership. House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said it was clear none of the GOP's ideas were being considered, so he walked out.

Lawmakers and Rell have been trying to agree on how to fill a $1.3 billion hole that was intentionally included in the second year of the two-year, $37.6 billion budget that Democrats passed and Rell allowed to become law in September. They've also had to figure out how to address a $700 million deficit that's developed since the budget was passed.

Meanwhile, the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis predicts Connecticut's General Fund, the state's major spending account, will have a deficit of $3.8 billion in 2012 and $3.7 billion in 2013.

Rell's office on Saturday denied that a budget deal is imminent.

"Talks are ongoing and the governor is hopeful that everyone will work together in a respectful manner to balance the budget by the end of session," said a statement from Rell's office. "The governor remains insistent that a budget agreement must use any new revenue to first reduce the amount of borrowing in the Democrats budget."

Republicans say the version of the plan they've seen will delay a second $100 million payment to the state employee retirement fund. It also relies on borrowing, federal stimulus funds and the unexpected tax revenues to help balance the 2011 budget, they say.

House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, said he felt good about reaching a budget agreement, possibly before the Wednesday adjournment.

"The economic picture is looking better in Connecticut. The revenue is looking better than ever, so that's reason to feel optimistic," Donovan said. "I guess it's unfortunate they walked out, but we're working with the governor. We always listen, but we have to get a budget and that's what we're doing."

Asked if they were disappointed in Rell, Republicans were hesitant to criticize the governor, who faces a veto-proof majority of Democrats in the Legislature.

"Am I disappointed in her? I'm disappointed in the result, very disappointed in the result that we are faced with," Cafero said.

Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, ranking House Republican on the tax-writing committee, said Rell had "pushed the easy button" in trying to reach a budget agreement with Democrats.

"The easiest solution is to use the existing revenues that we saw come in April. That's the easy way out of this," he said. "The difficult one is to make the decisions to structurally change government, to fix us going into the future. This is not a long-term fix. This is another temporary solution."