SOMERSET, Ky. (AP) - Tax revenues and tourist spending were up during the summer at Lake Cumberland thanks to water levels that returned to normal after being down for several years.
Carolyn Mounce, head of the Somerset-Pulaski Convention & Visitors Bureau, says marina operators were happy this season with the lake traffic, The Commonwealth Journal in Somerset reported (https://bit.ly/1CKA120 ).
The southern Kentucky lake’s dam underwent major repairs beginning in 2007. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which operates Wolf Creek Dam, lowered lake levels by 40 feet to ease pressure on the leaking structure. The repairs have since been completed.
“Lake Cumberland is awesome … when you talk with people you hear it in their voice,” Mounce said. “Many say: ’The lake was beautiful when it was low, but I’m glad it’s back (to normal levels).’”
Mounce says for the fiscal year beginning July 1 county transient tax revenues were up 1 percent over last year. In June (the last month in 2013 fiscal year) was up 0.4 percent and July was up 3.7 percent, she said.
Earlier this year officials said rainfall had returned the lake to its full summer point for the first time in eight years.
Mounce said tourists in Pulaski County spent $117 million during fiscal year 2013, though the total was $1.6 million less than the previous fiscal year likely due to some tourist destinations going through bankruptcy as a result of the low lake levels.
She said total 2014 travel expenditures, compiled by the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, would not be available until May 2015.
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Information from: Commonwealth Journal, https://www.somerset-kentucky.com
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