Tourism impacts Cadiz and its surroundings more than folks think.
That’s according to Cadiz-Trigg County Tourism Executive Director Beth Sumner, who during Monday’s Trigg County Fiscal Court meeting presented a quick night course on all things “GoCadiz” — how it works, and what it brings to the community.
Her office budget strictly consists of a 3% transient room tax that provides 16% of operative funding, a restaurant tax that provides 72% of operative funding, and a small portion of matching funds found at the state and federal levels.
In return for what this year is a $740,000 coffer, 9% goes to general office expenses, 21% goes to three personnel, a small dividend gets put aside for capital outlay, 33% goes to advertising Trigg County’s many facets, 7% goes to event expenditures, and 4% goes to promotional materials.
The remaining 18-or-so-percent comes as a passthrough back out to Cadiz-Trigg County Parks & Recreation. Valued at nearly $132,000 annually, Sumner said this equates to 25% of the annually collected restaurant tax — and is specifically used for “quality of life” engagement in Trigg County, both for visitors and local residents, and is spent or saved at the behest of its board of directors.
Funds, she added, are mostly spent locally, and they are typically generated through hotel stays for events like the 400 Mile Yard Sale, the Trigg County Country Ham Festival, tractor pulls, barrel shows, two disc golf courses and the weekly summer Cadiz Cruz-Ins, and in places like Land Between the Lakes, Lake Barkley State Resort Park and the Trigg County Recreation Complex.
A recent Tik-Tok social media campaign, sharing the “ABC’s of Cadiz and Trigg County,” generated hundreds of thousands of views for the area, while the first month of reviewing data with Gray Digital Media revealed that targeted marketing within a four-hour drive of Trigg County resulted in more than 350,000 online impressions in 126,000-plus households, with a frequency of 2.78 clicks per Cadiz-Trigg County advertisement.
It is worth noting that both tourism, as well as parks & recreation, spending is subject not only to state law and cabinet authority, but also annual audit and review.
Full Sumner Presentation:
In other court news:
+ Magistrates approved the second reading of upcoming tax rates with no changes stemming from the previous discussion. County real estate is 7.2 cents per $100 of assessed value, while the ambulance district is 7.4 cents per $100 of assessed real estate, and 9 cents per $100 of assessed personal property.
+ Magistrates also approved to reappoint Kendra Redd to the Trigg County Hospital Board and Beverly Gardner to the John L. Street Library Board. Now renewed, both will serve from October 1 through September 30, 2029.
+ Furthermore, magistrates approved what is essentially a memorandum of understanding, or a “gentleman’s agreement,” for cooperation between the county and Woodlot Farms LLC, through its agent Joe Nichols. Follow tremendous flooding in the late spring, a handshake led to the lending of ingress and egress for Glenwood Mill Road residents who were landlocked due to Little River’s rise. The memorandum will not create a new public nor county road, but it will be opened in “times of emergency.”
Judge-Executive Stan Humphries confirmed that repairs to Glenwood Mill Road, as well as Hal Fennell Bridge, have been upgraded on the regional SHIFT plan through the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
+ Pat Bush and Barry Littlejohn both mentioned that some constituents remain engaged in Trigg County’s potential pursuit of clear and update UTV and side-by-side laws that would be in line with state statutes. County Clerk Carmen Finley confirmed her office has sold five licenses for such since new appropriations took effect.
+ And following recent incidents in the rear municipal parking lot along Main Street, Humphries confirmed cameras have been installed at the cost of more than $1,700 from Solutions Technology.
