COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Senate finished work on a $5.8 billion spending plan Tuesday evening, entering the final hours of debate doling out cash from an expected state surplus to pet projects around the state.

The extra cash helped the Senate expand a wish list that would pump sand onto beaches, pay for downtown redevelopment and tourism projects, refurbish and expand libraries and expand a Medicaid program for children.

"We really took care of the things that really matter," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.

The final spending plan cleared the Senate with all but two members present voting for it and now moves back to the House. A conference committee will work out differences between the bills next month before it heads to Gov. Mark Sanford's desk.

It was the first time in five years the state's budget yielded a surplus.

The state's chief economist last week reported that the state should see $88.3 million more in revenue than earlier projected. That translates into about $50 million added to the $214 million surplus the Senate already was counting on.

About $120 million of the surplus went into covering ongoing agency and program expenses.

The Senate made quick work of the extra cash, leading Sen. Glenn McConnell to say more pork was flying through the Statehouse Tuesday than at a barbecue.

Senators approved putting $8.6 million put into health care programs for children living in families at 185 percent of the poverty level because it would benefit children, doctors and hospitals statewide, said Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg. Each dollar put into that program draws a $4 federal match, Hutto said.

Some worried that expanding that program would create a budget problem next year. But Hutto said the same economic growth that created a surplus this year is likely to be there next year.

"We're in a period of growth, which means we'll probably have the money to do this again next year," Hutto said.

The Senate also set aside $7 million for Charlestowne Landing.

The state Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department is doing "less than a miserable job in managing it," said McConnell, R-Charleston. "This is the birthplace of our state and it should not be treated as the stepchild of this state," he said.

The Senate also agreed to put $5 million into beach renourishment along the coast. Coastal senators said that will help the state's thriving tourism industry.

Other tourism-related projects large and small picked up money. For instance, the Senate wants to spend $150,000 for horse trails at Croft State Natural Area, $200,000 to buy land for at the Battle of Camden site and $350,000 for a Willington on the Way project in McCormick County.

The University of South Carolina would get $5 million to help build a new law school facility. The university also will be borrowing money for that project, senators said.

It is that type of wish-list spending that Sanford has criticized in budget vetoes.

That money "could go to getting our state's fiscal house in order," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said. The governor wants the state put surplus money first into repaying money raided from trust accounts.

Leatherman said most of those funds have been repaid.

Sanford also wanted the Senate and House to put money into an income tax cut aimed helping small businesses and attracting wealthy retirees and executives. Instead, the Senate only approved a tax cut for small business owners.

Those are "the same people that said the sky would fall if we passed the governor's broader income tax plan. Now there's all this money available for what many would describe as nonessential items," Folks said.

Leatherman said all the things in that extra spending "are good for this state, for the people of this state."

But some wanted more.

For instance, McConnell and Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Isle of Palms, asked to be recorded as voting against the budget. They lost a bid to put $14 million on the wish list that would have helped Charleston and Beaufort county schools address a funding problem the budget inadvertently created.

"Public education in Charleston and Beaufort is cut below last year's level," McConnell said. "We got singled out and shortchanged in this bill."