By
Allyson Dix
For Glasgow News 1
Barren County officials are taking a closer look at tourism funding as plans have been proposed to break away from the current Glasgow-Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission, but no decisions have been officially made.
Despite not being listed on the Barren County Fiscal Court agenda on Aug. 18, several supporters of the current Glasgow-Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission, along with commission employees, board members, and director MacLean Lessenberry, were present to hear the discussion.
Cave City Mayor Dwayne Hatcher glances at the director for the Glasgow-Barren Tourist and Convention Commission following a lengthy discussion of a potential split in the joint tourism commission in the Aug. 18, 2026, Barren County Fiscal Court meeting. Allyson Dix/For Glasgow News 1
Eddie Jones, a McCracken County commissioner who participated via Zoom, discussed how his community established separate tourism structures to generate more revenue streams from tourism, particularly through its local transient room tax.
Jones, who is also an attorney, said the approach was motivated in part by the realization that families traveling to other communities for baseball and soccer tournaments represented tourism dollars that the county could capture by improving its own facilities.
“We built something better because parents [were] traveling the nation to take their kids to baseball tournaments and soccer games that we were missing out on some tourism dollars,” Jones said, explaining the focus was on sports-related events.
“We had a city tourism commission and a county tourism commission [and] they both could charge the 3% tax for the city and 3% for the county, totaling 6% since the city is seated in the county,” Jones said, adding that the city kept its employees, operations, vision, and tax dollars as separate tourist and convention commissions.
Jones said he has also been involved in similar efforts in Calloway and Franklin counties, which include the cities of Murray and Frankfort, respectively.
He also said the statutory framework governing tourism commissions supports the use of funds for the acquisition, construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities that help attract and promote tourism, tourist business, and convention business.
Following Jones’ presentation, Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd reviewed the current tourism budget line-by-line, including the salaries, marketing efforts, and other expenses. She also noted how the county would offer to help in several areas if the two separated, such as helping to fund marketing expenses and providing office space when the county offices move into what is now the courthouse. That will happen once the new justice center is finished.
Jones said KRS 91A lays out how local tourist and convention commissions can operate jointly or separately, and Byrd said that to generate the additional tax revenue, the two must legally separate.
Magistrate Marty Kinslow said the potential separation will not happen soon.
“The brakes are being put on [the proposed separation], not only from our side, the brakes are being put on from the other side,” Kinslow said. “Nothing has been decided.”
He said he expects the process to take weeks or possibly months because of the number of issues involved and the need to continue reviewing the information. Kinslow is the chair of the fiscal court’s administration and budget committee.
“In my opinion, it will not be decided for a while yet [because] it’s a very complicated issue with a lot of moving parts, and it’s going to require every one of those moving parts to work with each other,” he said.
Kinslow said that while the county secured $20 million from federal funding for the construction of the Ag Expo Center planned for Cave City, ensuring that adequate funding can sustain the facility is important. Byrd has stated similar sentiments about the sustainability of the project.
Barren County Magistrate Marty Kinslow speaks during the Aug. 18, 2026, Barren County Fiscal Court meeting on the consideration of the county breaking away from a decades-long partnership of the Glasgow-Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission. Allyson Dix/For Glasgow News 1
“We’ve got the funds to build the Ag Expo Center, but long term of this expo center, I want to make sure that we’re able to sustain it and make sure that we’re able to have a nice facility in 15 years versus just immediately,” Byrd said.
The projected cost for construction totals $27 million.
She also said she refuses to use local taxes for it.
“Property taxes should not be used to do this,” Byrd said. “This is a way to generate tourism also with a facility like the Ag Expo Center.”
Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd details the 2027 budget of the Glasgow-Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission in the Aug. 18, 2026, fiscal court meeting as the county considers a split from the partnership. Allyson Dix/For Glasgow News 1
Byrd proposes a tiered rollout of the additional transient room tax revenue starting at a 1%, which she said will increase the current $135,000 in tourism dollars received annually by the county to $172,000.
After that, the tax revenue will increase to $345,000 at 2% in the second year and $517,000 at 3% in the third year, with about $180,000 dedicated to supporting the Ag Expo Center each year.
Officials are expected to continue discussions about the future of tourism funding and the structure of the local tourism commission.
Presently, Barren County and Glasgow have a joint tourist and convention commission. Cave City and Park City each have their own commission.
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