AUGUSTA (AP) – Skirmishing over the state of Maine’s budget broke out in the Senate on Tuesday. Gov. John Baldacci, meanwhile, offered an early peek at April state revenues showing a strong month of collections that pushed a General Fund year-to-date surplus to $33.5 million.

Baldacci was just back from a brief trip to New York, where he and other administration officials had scheduled meetings this week with Wall Street rating agencies.

The administration has been bracing for bad news. In February, Moody’s Investors Service said it had placed the state of Maine’s general obligation bond rating, Aa2 with a stable outlook, on its Watchlist for a possible downgrading.

State officials have warned since then that the potential for a people’s veto referendum on a $450 million borrowing provision in the pending state budget will not help the state’s effort to avoid a downgrade.

The dispute over the pending budget resurfaced Tuesday in the Senate before Democrats there followed the lead of an earlier House vote and rejected a measure sponsored by Republican Rep. Henry Joy of Crystal envisioning cuts to state government of 5 percent across the board.

Party-line debate, followed by a party-line vote, had Democrats demanding to see an alternative GOP budget plan and Republicans blaming Democrats for using their numerical superiority to approve excessive spending.

Baldacci, who is expected to outline a supplemental spending package by the end of the week, distributed an administration report pegging April revenue at $349 million, which would be over estimate for the month by $48 million or 15.9 percent.

In building up the year-to-date surplus of $33.5 million, which is 1.6 percent over budget, the administration report showed individual income taxes running ahead of projections by $65 million, or 6.8 percent.

“This appears to reflect a trend across the region, as several states are experiencing significant increases in this area,” State Controller Edward Karass wrote.