Town Councilman Halsey Herreshoff walked into Monday night's budget hearing intending to leave well enough alone, declining to restore $10,000 cut from Explore Bristol's budget request.

Then he encountered the throng of supporters who turned out to defend the group that aims to market Bristol to prospective visitors. By the end of the two-hour meeting, he had changed his tune, supporting Councilwoman Mary Parella's motion to withdraw the money from town reserves to fund Explore Bristol.

"I came here this evening without the intent of doing this, but I'm going to vote for Mary's motion," Councilman Herreshoff told the crowd. "And that's because of all of you."

Indeed, those in attendance made a convincing argument why Explore Bristol needs to continue operating — which, according to Director Mike Byrnes, would not have been possible without the group's full $30,000 budget request. A parade of residents and business owners touted Explore Bristol's ability to bring visitors to town, specifically through New York PR firm Lou Hammond & Associates, to whom about 80 percent of Explore Bristol's budget goes. Karen Binder, of Blithewold Mansion, said visitors, memberships and wedding bookings are all sig, which she directly credited to Lou Hammond.

Bristol resident Kim Delaney cited an Oxford Economics study that touted the effectiveness of the type of "destination marketing" Explore and Lou Hammond engage in.

Jeff Hirsh, owner of the Lobster Pot and an Explore Bristol member, told the council Lou Hammond's publicity for Bristol has reached more than a billion people, an advertising value of $10 million.

That sounds like a pretty good value for $30,000 a year. Granted, those numbers come from a member of the organization with a vested interest in securing the funding, but it's difficult to argue to that selling a picturesque town like Bristol as a travel destination to potential visitors isn't a worthy investment.

The council was right to listen to the public and restore the funding. But Explore Bristol must do its part as well. Council members were right to point out Explore Bristol's accounting practices need to be cleaned up. That a publicly funded entity has slipped nearly $20,000 into debt — two-thirds of its annual disbursement from the town — is certainly concerning. A firm business plan and quarterly progress updates the council requested should help keep tabs on the money and keep the group on track and the visitors flowing in.