A member of an organization called “Take Back Kentucky” says the General Assembly should think about selling or leasing some of its under-performing state parks.
Adrienne Gilbert lives in LaRue County and made the suggestion on Thursday (March 27) to the Senate Economic Development, Tourism and Labor Committee.
Gilbert says that could generate revenue to improve the parks that attract more visitors.
“Let’s look at them one at a time. Which ones are the ones that we really, really want. What is wrong with let’s say, selling those in the private market. If a private company wants to open-up their own park and all the infrastructure is there for them to take over as a business enterprise that would be valuable for them.” –Adrienne Gilbert
Gilbert testified against a resolution authorizing Kentucky’s parks commissioner to explore barriers to public-private partnerships that could be used to upgrade park facilities. That measure was approved by the Senate Committee.
Kentucky Parks Commissioner Elaine Walker says the Commonwealth simply can’t start unloading parks that have been deemed as under-utilized. Walker says there are legal reasons preventing such a transaction.
“First of all, we simply can not sell off parks. A lot of them have restrictions with funds that were used to acquire those parks and so the idea of us checking off and seeing which ones are efficient and selling those off is something that we really wouldn’t do and in a lot of cases we simply can’t do.” –Elaine Walker
Walker says the resolution approved in committee only allows her to study the pursuit of public-private arrangements. She says it doesn’t authorize them.
