TRENTON - They huddled up yesterday, as the Governor said they would: Governor Mikie Sherrill, Senate President Nick Scutari and Speaker Craig Coughlin. One source described the 2027 Budget meeting as a "productive conversation."

Another said, "Nothing substantial."

So, which was it?

It was a useful meeting in the sense that each person made known his or her exact designs for the budget.

Take a look at those designs HERE.

The bad news?

No one gave an inch.

Sources to a person described the chief negotiating dynamics in a similar way.

New governor. New staff. Some of that staff is D.C.-centric. But others - or at least one frontline player - has deep Trenton relationships. So, there's some push and pull in there, with several longer time Sherill staffers obviously in no mood to fold to the same cast of Delaware River rats that have occupied these environs for years.

But something's going to have to give, so insiders point to the old hand in the Sherrill Administration - the Trenton player - who will ensure - in the source's words - "that cooler heads prevail."

Then again, Sherrill wants to be able to make the case that she's moving in a dedicated way toward more fiscal security - or sanity.

"Cooler heads" doesn't mean letting these guys give the front office the runaround.

With two weeks remaining on the clock to get the budget done in accord with constitutional requirements, and avoid a shutdown, someone will have to give a little. Sources more or less confidently say they will give. The annual income threshold for the StayNJ program won't be $500,000, as Coughlin craves, or $250K, which is the Governor's target, but likely a figure between the two. As for Scutari's appetite to maintain earmarks for his caucus: "they've got to be managed properly," a source told InsiderNJ.

"Nothing lofty."

Like a French art museum, for example, no disrespect to Les Bleus, who kick off at the Meadowlands against Senegal in less than two hours.

But that's another complication: the World Cup.

A new administration saddled with FIFA headaches was bad enough.

But then there was Delaney Hall, and that truly hit hard, a source pointed out. "People thought this was all going to get wrapped up by the 24th, and then Delaney happened, and, well, here we are on the 16th and everyone's dug in," the source added.

While no one foresees a government shutdown, most see the process going down to the wire.