TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Senate president brushed off speculation Tuesday that property tax relief might be part of deals involving the annual state budget, an expansion of gambling or a new stadium for the Florida Marlins baseball team in Miami.

Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, said his chamber would not trade lowering property taxes for anything else, even as negotiations with the House remained suspended with only three days left in the regular 2007 legislative session.

"Everything is a stand-alone issue - everything," Pruitt said. "Tax reform stands on its own. There's nothing coupled with it at all."

House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, was unavailable for comment after the House adjourned for the day and his spokeswoman did not immediately return a call. Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who heads the House property tax negotiating team, also did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Formal negotiations remained suspended for a sixth day, with the two chambers far apart on property tax relief. The Senate passed a plan designed to cut taxes by about $20 billion over five years, and the House by nearly $50 billion in the same span. Gov. Charlie Crist has offered a five-year $34 billion alternative.

"We're putting some numbers together and formulating different plans, but there's no change," Pruitt said.

A House Council threw gambling into the mix Monday by approving legislation that would permit dog and horse tracks and jai alai frontons to install video gambling machines similar to slot machines. The measure, heard during a rare late-session meeting, would use the state's share of the proceeds, estimated at $1 billion a year, to reduce the portion of school property taxes school boards are required to levy so they can receive state dollars.

The House Environment & Natural Resources Council attached the proposal to a bill (HB 1551) related to lottery patents.

The Senate last week passed its own bill (SB 2434) to allow the machines in all licensed pari-mutuels, but directing the first $1 billion toward raising teacher pay. Any additional money would go to lower the local share of school spending.

Crist has opposed moves to expand gambling, but he did not dismiss the House bill out of hand.

"There are not many things I dislike as much as gambling, but there is one and that's taxes," Crist said. But he added, "I really don't see the two together."

Speculation also has focused on a Marlins stadium bill, (HB 323) favored by Crist and Rubio, as possible trade bait, though individual lawmakers deny any direct link.

"The Senate president will do whatever he can to make the speaker happy, the speaker will do everything he can to make the president happy," said Sen. Steve Geller, D-Cooper City, the sponsor of the slots bill in the Senate. "But there's never been one person who's said if you pass Marlins, we'll pass slots. Never has come up."

The bill to provide state funding for a new Marlins stadium is a perennial issue before the Legislature, and the outcome isn't usually resolved until the final hours, or even minutes, of the legislative session. While the House kept the measure from passing last year, the Senate has so far stood in the way this year. The measure, at $60 million over 30 years, is relatively expensive at a time when the amount of money flowing into state coffers is slowing. Then, there are the rumors it can be used as a bargaining chip that is most useful at the very end.

The Marlins bill would provide $2 million a year for 30 years to help pay for a $490 million stadium. House supporters believe the Senate should give it a vote on its own merits.

"It passed with 86 votes over here," said Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami. "For the Senate not to even give it a vote is an affront to the House."

Two big issues separate the chambers on the property tax issue.

One is a House proposal that would drastically cut or totally remove property taxes from primary homes, known as homesteads, in exchange for increasing the state sales tax from 6 percent to at least 7 percent or as much as 8.5 percent.

The Senate wants no part of a sales tax increase.

Another sticking point is the House's insistence that any relief measure drop property taxes by $1,200 a year on homesteads, $750 on other residences and $3,300 on businesses.

Senators say that would cut local government property taxes by more than half, forcing cities and counties to slash vital services.