While organizers of the Breakout Project described the event as an unqualified success, some city councillors are looking for more information about the city’s financial support of the event.

Last month’s two-day-long Breakout Project was described as a social innovation event where seven teams worked to gather financial and volunteer support to find solutions to global social issues.

The whole thing was streamed online in a reality television show format.

The inaugural event was a great success, organizers and participants told city councillors.

“People believe in this brand,” Grant Goodwin of Innovate Kingston, which organized the event, said.

Williamsville Coun. Jim Neill asked if there would be any audit of how the city’s $100,000 contribution was spent.

The city’s contribution covered the cost of the May 12 Sam Roberts Band concert in Springer Market Square that attracted approximately 5,000 people. It paid for entertainment and production costs, including the headliner and opening act, stage, sound, lighting and some marketing, including stage banners.

For comparison, the city spent about $150,000 to broadcast The Tragically Hip’s concert last summer in Market Square. Estimates say that event attracted as many as 25,000 people to the downtown.

Lanie Hurdle, commissioner of community services, said the work was done by city staff or contractors hired by the city and no money actually passed from the city to the Breakout Project or Innovate Kingston.

“The funding never actually left the city,” Hurdle said. “It was similar to a concert we would organize ourselves.”

Instead, she said, most of the funding for the project — $600,000 — came from the provincial government’s Ontario 150 fund.

“They are the ones who may want to look at an audit,” Neill replied.

About 600 people took part in the event at Fort Henry, and viewers in 61 countries watched online.

Close to $19,000 was raised and 325,000 volunteer hours were pledged, which at $50 an hour is valued at more than $16 million.

“The teams may not require all hours offered through the Breakout Project and the intent is not to police the ‘volunteers’ and hours offered but rather ensure that the teams all have access to various skills that they may require as they develop their startups,” Hurdle wrote in a report to council Tuesday.

Goodwin said he was still “going through the inbox of opportunities.”

elferguson@postmedia.com