New London — City Council President Erica Richardson wants answers about the city’s cost for hosting Sailfest and suggested this week the cost to taxpayers — whatever the figure — might be a good candidate for a referendum question.

Mayor Michael Passero calls Sailfest a city event in which the city has absorbed costs into the budget for decades without controversy.

The rift between the two grew this week during a City Council meeting showdown with Richardson asking why, during a series of difficult budget negotiations, the council was unaware that overtime costs associated with Sailfest were included in the individual department budgets.

“I’m not sure what your point is here,” Passero said.

“My point is to get answers,” Richardson replied.

“You have answers,” Passero said. “The answers are in the budget you worked on and you helped build. Each department head builds those costs into the department budget. It’s just the way it’s been done.”

“Clearly a lot of us didn’t know,” Richardson replied.

Councilor John Satti attempted to intervene during the heated debate, calling Richardson “totally out of order in your line of questioning” and calling for a recess for Richardson’s temper to calm.

The continuing turmoil is related to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Day requesting Sailfest costs. The request revealed the city had no specific accounting available on the costs of overtime for police, fire and public works employees during the four-day event.

The city finance director instead provided an estimate of $202,745 — “the overall cost of what Sailfest would cost if someone were to put it on as a private event,” according to a letter from City Attorney Jeffrey Londregan.

The city has not yet provided the council with updated numbers, though Passero indicated in his remarks to the council Monday that the figure provided to The Day was at least in part generated from actual expenditures.

Passero said that after subtracting costs of benefits for employees and services provided free from outside police agencies, he expects the cost estimate to be presented to the council at a later date to fall below $100,000.

He also denied a lack of transparency or lack of accounting and said the negativity surrounding the issue was unwarranted.

“It’s not that the city does not know the costs,” Passero told the council. “Every department in the city that bears a cost for Sailfest knows the cost of Sailfest very well because the cost is significant, and they budget for that cost every year because they have an obligation to stay within their budgets.”

Sailfest started in 1976 by the city’s former Marine Commerce and Development Committee. When the city could no longer maintain the event, it turned it over to the Downtown New London Association in 1996.

“A private organization is running this,” Richardson said. “That’s wonderful. But we didn’t contract them to run this. We don’t benefit from the proceeds, and we do not have an accounting or bookkeeping. So why is the city still paying and still has no say in it? That’s the question in my mind. Whether or not Sailfest is a good thing for the city is another story.”

Richardson said she has been vilified for asking questions that some have perceived as personal attacks against Barbara Neff, the executive director of Sailfest. Richardson said there is nothing personal about questioning the finances of a private organization that is using city services to support an event.

City residents, many of them downtown business owners, have come out to council meetings since the initial debate to lend an opinion. Many were vocal in their support of an event that draws people and attention to the city each year, while others remained concerned about a lack of a cost-benefit analysis.

Richardson said her main concern was the apparent lack of financial transparency, especially during a year when the council was forced to be heavy-handed while making budget cuts.

“We did not hire police officers. We did not hire the public works people we wanted. This should not have been absorbed by the city,” Richardson said. “That should have been on the chopping block, too. That’s where my frustration lies.”

Passero said Finance Director Don Gray has revised cost estimates for the council and they would be presented at a future committee meeting.

The negativity surrounding the Sailfest issue led the board of the Downtown New London Association this week to vote to cancel the Festival of Trees fundraiser, an event that led to a $10,000 donation to the Community Meal Center. Neff said board members were exhausted by recent events and continuing questions about next year’s Sailfest.

g.smith@theday.com