WHITE LAKE, NY — The Mysteryland Music Festival, which was held over the Memorial Day Weekend at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, was the subject of positive review at the town meeting on May 27.

Councilmember Lillian Hendrickson, who supported the event despite the fact that she found the music a bit loud at her house last year, said the impact on the town and county was very positive.

She said, “Most businesses in town said they were up 70% the first day, and up 90% the second day.” She said she went to Monticello and “one girl in the diner told me she made $1,000 over the three days in tips.” She added that business was good for all of the diners and the beer store.

She added, “Even though it may be a little bit of an inconvenience for some people, I think it went very well. And even though I heard a little noise at my house, I didn’t hear it as much as I did the year before. Many people asked me, even in Monticello and Liberty, if they come back and it comes to a vote, please vote for them to come back.”

Councilmember Vicky Simpson agreed. She said, “I got one call, which was better than last year.” She called it a “shot in the arm for the entire county; people want to see it come back.”

Supervisor Dan Sturm said, “I thought the traffic control was great; I thought the noise control was much better; I thought the promotion and economic opportunity for our local businesses was really good.” He acknowledged there were a couple of complaints about noise and traffic and said, “We have to continue to minimize or remove any uncomfortable or negative impacts that exist for our residents.”

Brian Tampke, project manager for Mysteryland, said he hoped the event could come back year after year. [See today’s editorial on this subject on page 6.]

A positive revenue picture

In other news, at the beginning of the meeting Sturm gave his monthly financial report and said the revenue picture for the town was looking up. He said mortgage tax payments for the first quarter of the year were higher than they had been in years. He said for the last seven or eight years the mortgage tax had been low and declining, and he said the good quarter reflected the fact the people were taking out mortgages and investing in their homes.

He said because of the mortgage tax, revenues for the town were 4.6% higher than at this same point last year.

Big trucks on little roads

Several residents complained during the public comment segment of the meeting about the excessive number of tractor-trailer trucks and their excessive speed on Gale Road. In 2013, the town adopted a highway-use law, which prohibits trucks in excess of 33,000 pounds from using town roads except when making local deliveries, and if an alternate route using county or state roads is available.

The residents said the trucks were not making local deliveries and were using Gale Road as a shortcut to get to Route 17B. Sturm said that when they first passed the highway ordinance, the town had strictly enforced it, and the truck drivers were deterred from using that road. He said the town would step up enforcement action again.