The General Assembly approved a $5 billion budget Tuesday that would not increase taxes, but would instead raise $45 million in fees and rely heavily on $200 million in one-time federal funds.

The 2003-04 spending plan would lower state funding for schools from $1,770 per pupil this year to $1,701 - the lowest level in a decade.

It also would set spending on Medicaid - health care for the poor, elderly and disabled - at levels that would maintain current services, but not allow for growth.

The House approved a separate plan late Tuesday that could raise per-pupil spending to $1,777 - by using much of the remaining federal money granted states last month. That plan must come before the Senate for approval.

The budget now goes to Gov. Mark Sanford. He has five days to sign the 500-page document or veto individual items. The General Assembly is scheduled to end its session Thursday, then come back in two weeks to consider Sanford's expected vetoes.

Senators warned this year's Band-Aids of fees and one-time federal dollars would not staunch next year's bleeding.

By relying on the federal windfall this year, lawmakers will start writing a budget next year already at least $200 million in the hole for Medicaid alone. State spending formulas established under the Education Finance Act of 1997 would put them another $200 million in the hole in crafting an education budget for 2004-05.

"Next year, we'll be further in the hole than this year," said state Sen. Ralph Anderson, D-Greenville.

The Senate approved the budget reluctantly, 28-18. But some senators had worried the budget might not pass at all because Democrats disliked it altogether and Republicans were angry about bits of it - from granting money to teen-pregnancy prevention that didn't teach abstinence only, to levying $25 fees on all traffic tickets.

The grumbling prompted Majority Leader and Senate Finance chairman Hugh Leatherman to plead with his colleagues to approve the budget so government could continue at the July 1 start of the fiscal year.

"If we shut down government, what do we do to provide services?" asked Leatherman, R-Florence. "How do we make payments to nursing homes?"

Several senators were on the fence just before the vote.

State Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, said he would vote against the budget to protest the funding of $500,000 for sex-education programs, in addition to existing abstinence programs. "That money is supposed to be promoting abstinence," Fair said before voting for the budget.

State Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, was equally conflicted, but for different reasons. He liked that the budget would add money to historically black colleges and raise the number of needs-based college scholarships, priorities of the Legislative Black Caucus. But Ford knew Democratic leaders did not want the budget to pass.

"My mama always told me there'd be days like this," Ford said before voting against the bill.

In the House, debate was more brief and the vote never in doubt - 72-42.

The Senate has been considering the budget for five weeks. Senators spent much of their time debating whether to raise cigarette taxes by 53 cents a pack to offset the Medicaid budget.

Most senators said they wanted a cigarette tax, but negotiations broke down because Sanford insisted any hike in the cigarette tax be accompanied by a reduction in the income tax.

Democrats opposed the income tax decrease, and some Republicans opposed the cigarette tax standing alone. No compromise was reached.

State Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Aiken, said he planned to bring the cigarette tax up for consideration again today, as part of different legislation.

State Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, and others said they were proud the Senate protected taxpayers in tight budget times, when the economy is faltering. "They'll know that we stuck up for them this year."

Overall, the budget would:

?_Bolster the budgets of public safety agencies by levying a $25 fee on all traffic tickets. This would raise $25 million a year.

?_Increase other fees to offset departmental budgets, ranging from charging prison inmates $2 per prescription, to raising the fee for a combined hunting and fishing license from $20 to $25.