ST. PAUL — Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders said special session negotiations took a step backward Tuesday, leading to some trepidation that there’ll be no agreement by the end of the month on a $260 million tax bill and a public works package — if ever.

The talk of an overtime session started as the Legislature adjourned late last month due to the last-minute failure of a package of more than $1 million in transportation fixes and other public infrastructure. Dayton added to the pile of unfinished work by vetoing a tax bill that targets relief for college graduates, farmers and parents with high childcare costs.

But little has changed after a series of private meetings between the state’s top Democrats and Republicans. Rather than narrowing their positions for a would-be special session, Dayton and Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt traded accusations Tuesday after meeting for less than an hour about who was to blame for the lack of progress. It’s unclear when the two sides may meet again.

“At some point, you say this isn’t going anywhere,” the Democratic governor said, who nonetheless stressed he hasn’t yet reached that point. “We’re moving backward.”

The lack of progress is about the only area where the two parties have found any agreement. They’re still divided on the size of a so-called bonding bill, with Dayton calling for borrowing to build more projects like a new building on the University of Minnesota campus, but Daudt and other top GOP lawmakers holding firm on the $1 billion price tag. And they’ve made little headway in solving a dispute over funding a light-rail line from Minneapolis to southwestern suburbs, a project Democrats say is critical but GOP lawmakers dismiss as controversial.

Daudt said Dayton “has not moved a single centimeter” from his own list of demands — an accusation Dayton lobbed right back at Republicans.

But Dayton also criticized Daudt for proposing two measures Tuesday that he deemed controversial: tax credits for private schools and legislation that could block Minnesota cities from raising minimum wages. The speaker said it was unreasonable for Dayton to expect to see his own wish list fulfilled without making some concessions.