The $22.9 billion state budget signed into law Friday contains several goodies for South Jersey, but it doesn't fulfill all of the region's wishes.

Perhaps the biggest success is that the budget contains wording that stipulates 25 percent of money awarded to cultural projects by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts must go to groups in the eight southernmost counties.

In the past, South Jersey arts groups have received lower percentages because money was given to North Jersey groups to perform in the South. In all, the arts council will get $ 20 million for cultural projects, meaning $5 million must be awarded to South Jersey.

"I hope this will facilitate the growth and development of South Jersey arts groups," said Barbara Fenhagen, executive director of the South Jersey Performing Arts Center in Camden, which received a separate $1 million grant.

Trevor Orthman, general manager of the Haddonfield Symphony, said the wording raised a few questions. The symphony was denied separate funding requested by Assemblyman Joseph J. Roberts Jr., D-Camden.

"I will be interested in seeing how the arts council will distribute the additional money," Orthman said. "Will they allow organizations that were rejected to reapply?"

Other grants to South Jersey cultural institutions in the budget include: $75,000 to the Alice Paul Centennial Foundation for Paulsdale, the women's rights leader's birthplace in Mount Laurel; $25,000 to the Bordentown Historical Society for meetinghouse restoration; and $125, 000 to the Wheaton Village Exposition Center in Millville.

The list of winners at the end of the legislative session also includes South Jersey hospitals and a bonanza of local projects. But others, including those who hoped for money to spur revitalization projects in Camden, came up empty- handed.

And some South Jersey projects earmarked for state cash were approved by the Legislature, but vetoed Friday by acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco.

Among them was a $2.5 million grant to help offset the cost of constructing a $7 million, 150,000-square-foot Camden warehouse planned by a South Jersey Port Corp. tenant that imports cocoa beans. SJPC Executive Director Joseph Balzano said he didn't know if the importer would pursue public funding elsewhere.

And millions of dollars once sought by Camden-based institutions won't be coming, at least for now. After a bill proposing a state takeover of Camden stalled in the Legislature, organizations that would have benefited from revitalization grants in the bill hoped they might still be able to secure funds.

For instance, the takeover bill had earmarked $30 million to expand and upgrade the New Jersey State Aquarium, and $ 18.5 million for colleges and universities in the city. That funding wasn't approved before the Legislature ended its session.

But Roberts said those project aren't necessarily dead.

"It is likely the Legislature will come back this summer to deal with the Newark arena," said Roberts, who voted against the budget. "Maybe Camden can be addressed then."

The proposal for a $335 million sports arena in Newark, which the Senate already approved, is in limbo. That's because no bill has been introduced in the Assembly, where Speaker Jack Collins, R-Salem, is said to be holding out for projects to benefit South Jersey. Among them: a $20 million redevelopment grant for Pennsauken that would likely allow the township to convince Camden County freeholders to build a civic center there.

Another big-ticket item closely watched in South Jersey was a plan to boost the state's charity care fund by $25 million. That was withheld from the final budget while the Legislature studies allegations that the lion's share of hospital funding in the state unfairly goes to North Jersey.

The move shows legislators recognize the health-care needs of Camden residents, said Gary Young, an executive vice president at Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center.

"We have been very concerned with the way in which health care services are being funded in Camden," Young said.

In another victory for Cooper, the budget includes $1.5 million to relocate its heliport.

A variety of projects in communities across the region also got funding. Items in the budget include: $400,000 to the Camden County Fire Academy; $75,000 for a municipal historical display in Clementon; $400,000 to the Gloucester County Fire Academy; $8,000 for the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office's Project Get Straight; and $100,000 to expand the Pitman Library.

Also, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine gets $800,000 to expand services at a facility in Stratford, and Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden gets $1.5 million to fund additional services for women and children.