Gov. Mark Sanford said Friday he was skeptical of last-minute money the Senate Finance Committee has found to give state workers raises and avoid another round of agency spending cuts.

Sanford said politics were at play Thursday night to make the senators appear to be the heroes in the long budget-writing process after he was criticized for making tough choices to cut government spending in a tight budget year.

“I think in politics, if it doesn’t smell right, doesn’t look right, probably something isn’t right,” Sanford told The Associated Press. “I can’t precisely say that, but I just think the numbers are too close.”

Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman said he merely took a report Thursday from the state’s economic forecasters and projected the state would have enough surplus money at the end of the fiscal year to cover a $110 million funding shortfall in the budget.

“It’s not my goal for the Senate to look like heroes,” Leatherman said. “It’s my goal to do a balanced budget, which we did.”

The extra cash was needed after the committee dumped or altered several budget proposals pushed by Sanford and the House, creating a $107.8 million gap in the state’s spending plan.

Hours after the Board of Economic Advisors said the state had generated $99 million more than expectations, Leatherman estimated the surplus would grow enough to close the gap.

“I don’t get that. The timing is just too weird for me,” the governor said.

Leatherman said the governor could have used reports of excess revenue in his executive budget in January.

Sanford said being too optimistic about the upward swing in the economy threatens to put the state at risk of midyear budget cuts.

“I think the verdict is still out, so you want to be very, very conservative with regard to building expectations on what happens next with the economy,” he said.

Sanford said the state’s economic forecasters are tied to a process that “lends itself to politics.”

Another example, Sanford said, was the $90 million more House budget writers had to spend than the governor after State Revenue Department Director Burnet Maybank convinced lawmakers he could generate that much money if budget writers gave him $9 million to hire auditors and tax collectors.

“What we end up with is a game of chicken.”

The Senate gets the benefit of hindsight because it works off the House’s version, which starts with the governor’s plan, said John Rainey, chairman of Board of Economic Advisors.