NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) – A state commission is scheduled to decide Monday whether to bolster funding for a task force trying to draw cruise ships to visit southeastern Connecticut.

The Connecticut Cruise Ship Task Force is requesting about $70,000 from the state’s Commission on Culture and Tourism.

The task force has been running on a $25,000 startup grant it received about three years ago, but the money is running dry and task force members say additional funds are needed to keep it afloat for the next few years.

“We’re basically out of money,” said task force Executive Director George Cassidy, joking, “I can’t do this on my good looks.”

The group was created to convince large cruise ship companies to add the Harold E. Shear State Pier in New London as one of their regular ports of call in New England.

The task force announced Friday that one such ship, the Maasdam cruise ship of the Holland America Line, has scheduled three stops next year in New London.

About 900 passengers disembark from each ship during port calls, browsing in downtown New London or taking buses to nearby tourist attractions. The group estimates that passengers spend an average of $60 per visit, and that up to $165,000 has been spent locally since the cruise ships began making port calls in the area three years ago.

Jennifer Aniskovich, executive director of the state’s Commission on Culture and Tourism, said that while she cannot speculate on the amount of state funding available for the task force, the agency supports its work and compliments its successes.

A subcommittee of the full commission meets Monday morning to consider the funding request, which goes to the commission’s full 35-member board later that day for a vote.

“We think that bringing in the cruise business to Connecticut is a wonderful idea, and we want to be supportive of their activities,” Aniskovich said.

Aniskovich said she is also encouraging the group to create a long-term strategic plan.

“There’s lots of opportunities for cruise ships coming in,” she said. “One of the things that the state really wants to see is that cruise ships aren’t a ‘flash in the pan’ and that there’s a long-term commitment to this.”