The moe.down concert in Turin over the Labor Day weekend put a strain on the Lewis County Sheriff's Department budget.

Policing the concert resulted in the arrests of 21 persons on a range of charges for possessing or selling cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy, heroin, LSD, nitrous oxide and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Sheriff L. Michael Talbot said his entire staff worked from Thursday night through Tuesday morning.

Adding the overtime pay to the $100 a day for boarding nine inmates at the Oneida County Jail in Utica is expected to bring the cost of policing the event to $40,000, a sizable sum for the county.

With expectations that the county expenses will rise as the annual event grows, Sheriff Tabolt told county legislators that he could not cover the costs through his budget. One legislator made a reasonable suggestion that event organizers be asked to pick up some of the law enforcement costs.

There is a precedent for asking promoters to pay for law enforcement and other costs, especially with events of this size and duration. Implementing the requirement would be subject to legal advice, but the proposal is worth pursuing in the interest of county taxpayers.