Belleair Shore Gets Top Financial ReportBy Leo Coughlin BELLEAIR BLUFFS - The town got top grades in its financial examination from Richard Cristini in a report to the Town Commission last week as the millage and budget for FY2010, beginning Thursday, was wrapped up. Commissioners put the seal on the tax picture with a second final budget hearing last Wednesday and the bottom line is that town residents will pay no more taxes than they did last year. The millage rate is .5988 which is the rolled back rate for the new budget of $78,837 - $10,563 than Belleair Shore had in outlays last year. As Cristini noted in his report, the town's reserves constitute almost 400 percent of its budget needs and that puts the town in extraordinary shape, ready to weather any ordinary emergency. In the only other business, the commission voted unanimously against any idea of drilling for oil in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Arguments favoring such drilling center on the state gaining revenue. But Mayor John Robertson has pointed out, and is joined by his fellow commission members as well as just about every official in the area, that the drilling constitutes too much of a danger to the beaches. If there were a spill, any financial benefits would be greatly offset by the loss of tourism revenue and the ultimate cost of cleaning up beaches along the west coast.
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