New London — The City Council on Monday embarked on the first part of an inquiry into the true costs of Sailfest, the city’s biggest yearly event and what many would call its signature event.

With the city's costs for police, fire and public works overtime hours yet to be calculated, the council turned to Sailfest organizer Barbara Neff Monday night for her insight into the costs and profits from the privately run event.

During a back-and-forth with Neff that was at times interrupted by an emotional crowd, council President Erica Richardson said while the event is a windfall for some businesses, others close down for the four-day event.

“We need to make sure the city is actually benefitting,” Richardson said. “We need to take a look at how much this is costing.”

Richardson also seemed incredulous that the city simply absorbs the cost of overtime into the budget without understanding the actual numbers.

“So the budgets that we’re looking at and literally haggling over every single year are increased to cover the expense of a non-city-run operation?” she asked.

Neff, who is contracted by the city to run six events a year, runs Sailfest as the executive director of the Downtown New London Association. Monday’s crowd, and most council members, defended Neff and spoke affectionately about Sailfest.

Neff said the total net revenue from the event last year for the Downtown New London Association was $4,652. The expenses totaled $139,545 and the association paid the city $25,000 in reimbursement. About $10,000 is donated to the local soup kitchen.

Neff called the city’s role more of a sponsorship and pointed out that the Downtown New London Association took over the event from the city’s former Marine Commerce and Development Committee.

“We don’t make a lot of money on it and we’re not trying to make money on it. What we’re trying to do is bring people into our community to enjoy our businesses, our restaurants and experience downtown New London,” Neff said. “It was never meant to be a money-making venture. It was meant to bring people into the community for economic development.”

The questions from the council were spurred by a recent report in The Day that revealed the city had not specifically budgeted for Sailfest. The city estimated that it cost more than $200,000 to run Sailfest as a private event though many aspects of the event, such as the fireworks display, are donated.

Dylan Wardwell, co-owner of Jaden Events, was among others to criticize the event during comments to the City Council last month, and likened the city’s cost to a subsidy to a nonprofit organization. He called it a “big party with an unqualified economic impact.”

Speaker after speaker on Monday, however, gushed about the benefits of the event and the work of the Downtown New London Association.

“We should be supporting any event that brings people to the city of New London,” said Mark Christiansen. “This is a city event. It's (the merchants) of New London that pay millions of dollars a year in property taxes to this city. We need events like this.”

Neff said the city needs to decide soon if it will continue to support Sailfest. The committee will start planning the 40th edition in January.

g.smith@theday.com