By GAGE WILSON
For Glasgow News 1
A proposal to separate Barren County from the joint Glasgow-Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission is drawing differing opinions from county leadership and the tourism organization itself as officials discuss how best to prepare for future tourism growth.
Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd said the proposal is part of a long-term strategy centered around the future Barren County Ag Expo Center, expanded lodging options and other tourism investments she believes will reshape the county over the next several years.
Rather than relying on property tax revenue to help sustain those projects, Byrd said she wants tourism itself to fund tourism.
“I’ve been tourism focused since I came in here,” Byrd said. “I’ve just been thinking long term about that… how is that going to be handled and function?” Byrd was first elected judge-executive in 2022. She recently won the 2026 Republican primary, and is running unopposed in the November general election.
According to Byrd, county officials are already working to recruit another hotel to Cave City while preparing for construction of the Ag Expo Center, which she expects to begin next year with events beginning in 2028. She said those developments, coupled with a planned sports complex, will bring additional visitors to the area and require a sustainable funding source to support them.
She went on to say that separating from the joint tourism commission would allow the county to establish its own tourism commission and levy a four-percent transient room tax countywide, including hotels in Cave City. She estimated the change would generate roughly $750,000 annually for county tourism efforts, with approximately $180,000 dedicated to supporting the Ag Expo Center and convention center operations.
Byrd said the separation would also allow Barren County to benefit from lodging revenue generated in Cave City, which currently does not flow through the joint city-county tourism commission. Cave City has its own tourist and convention commission.
“Right now, Barren County and Glasgow currently get no money from Cave City,” Byrd said. “If we separate from Glasgow, we are able to charge a county tourism tax of four-percent countywide, so we’ll get money from Cave City hotels and lodging.”
Byrd said the change would not alter Cave City’s tourism structure, but would instead provide additional funding that could benefit countywide tourism efforts.
“The only thing it would affect is their hotels would have the four-percent tax on top,” she said. “Otherwise, they’re going to stay the same structure.”
She added that without the additional county revenue, Cave City tourism could potentially face more pressure to help support countywide tourism projects such as the Ag Expo Center.
“If we don’t do this, then Cave City tourism is going to have to support the Ag Expo,” Byrd said. “We’re just trying to make sure these things last.”
“We’re not going to do that through property tax,” Byrd said. “We want to do that through people that are actually using our facility.”
Byrd stressed the proposal would not create a new tax on Barren County residents.
“This is not taxing our local citizens,” she said. “This is a tourism tax.”
She said the additional revenue could also be used to support local events that attract visitors, pointing to organizations such as Entertain Glasgow, the Downtown Business Group’s Sip, Shop and Stroll events and the Barren County Fair.
“A lot of times we get focused on heads and beds,” Byrd said. “But anything that brings people to our area is tourism.”
She said the proposal is not a criticism of Barren County-Glasgow Tourism Executive Director MacLean Lessenberry or the work of the existing commission.
“I don’t have a problem with MacLean. I think she does a great job,” Byrd said. “People are misunderstanding that she won’t have a job at the end of this. She will have a job.”
She said she envisions the county and Glasgow continuing to work together on regional tourism efforts, with the county potentially assuming costs for regional memberships and other county-related expenses currently paid through the joint commission.
Lessenberry, however, said she remains unconvinced the proposal would benefit tourism.
“I was initially, and still am, surprised that the county is considering exiting the joint commission after almost 30 years,” she said. “I cannot think of any problem that this separation would solve for us.”
Lessenberry said it is her understanding from conversations with the judge-executive that the proposal is primarily driven by the county’s desire for additional funding.
“It is my understanding from Judge Byrd that the county simply needs the money,” she said.
She also said she has received numerous calls and messages from county residents who oppose the proposal.
While she said it is too early to speculate on how a separate county tourism commission would operate, Lessenberry believes the change would affect ongoing projects already underway.
Among those, she said, are three film projects currently taking place in Barren County through the Southern Kentucky Film Commission.
“Those projects did not land here by accident,” Lessenberry said. “Barren County was chosen because of the reputation for success we have built through Southern Kentucky Film Commission.”
Lessenberry said the commission has never relied on a large budget to achieve results.
“We built our success by strategically leveraging limited resources through collaboration, shared expertise, and strong regional partnerships,” she said.
According to Lessenberry, those partnerships include organizations such as the Southern Kentucky Film Commission, the Caveland Marketing Association and Cave Country Trails.
“If this change is made, the county is not just removing itself from our organization, but also from the Southern Kentucky Film Commission, Caveland Marketing Association, Cave Country Trails, and others,” she said.
Lessenberry said changes to the commission’s structure would extend beyond the local organization, potentially affecting longstanding regional partnerships, collaborative marketing efforts and destination development projects that have taken years to establish.
The county government is expected to continue discussing the proposal in the coming weeks. Byrd said the Fiscal Court plans to hear from officials involved in similar tourism commission restructurings elsewhere in Kentucky before determining the next steps.
