By Cinco de Mayo, the state's coffers could run dry. That was the message Treasurer Dean Martin sent this morning, as he detailed the crisis facing the state if a budget fix for the current fiscal year isn't approved soon.

But Gov. Janet Napolitano said Martin's information was "inaccurate" and will do nothing to help further negotiations with legislative leaders.

"You have to understand, the treasurer is a side player. He doesn't manage the state agencies, he doesn't see the accounts, he doesn't know what's being held in reserve," she said.

Martin said, based on the predictions of legislative and gubernatorial budget analysts, the state's general fund – which is used to pay for the bulk of daily state government operations – will be empty sometime between April 23 and May 5.

"The time for games are over," he said. "We need this passed quickly."

An economic downturn, led primarily by the collapse of the housing market, has plunged the state into the red ink. Budget analysts estimate budget shortfalls of $1.2 billion in the current year and at least $1.9 billion next fiscal year.

Napolitano, though, said the negotiations have been going well and will result in an agreement. She dismissed Martin's announcement s little more than an attempt to garner headlines.

"He's making presumptions about spend rates and the like that are inaccurate," she told reporters March 19 at her weekly media briefing. "He wants to get a headline and he's obviously gotten your attention now, but the plain fact of the matter is that he is a side player in this. And the key institutions, the key branches of government that need to come together, and we are, are the Legislature and the governor's office."