In Pinellas County, a project to bury powerlines along Gulf Boulevard has been in the works since 2012. $70 million has been allocated from Pinellas County's penny tax to put utility lines underground from St. Pete Beach to Clearwater. Each beach municipality manages its stretch of Gulf Boulevard. In the southernmost cities burying powerlines, a city official says some of the county dollars have been mismanaged. In the city of St. Pete Beach, taxpayers could be on the hook for $6 million. During last week's budget workshop meeting, the public works director told city officials the project and the money to fund it had been mismanaged by the city's former manager. In the meeting, the mayor questioned why the public works director needed more money for this project to be completed. "You can't just throw the number like six million and not explain what it is," Mayor Adrian Petrila said. "I mean, I'm just curious if we're gonna be spending, you know, 10% of our budget on something. I kind of want to know what it is," the mayor pressed. It was during the budget workshop meeting that city officials learned that a project that was fully funded by the county was now $6 million short. Public Works Director Mike Clarke pointed the blame at the former City Manager Alex Rey. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/pinellascounty/st-pete-beach-project-6-million-short/67-f4eff4f0-4d75-4774-bd6d-8361aac014ce ►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube ►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/ ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay ►X: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay