The state auditor says Kentucky's park system is losing millions of dollars despite improvements and renovations totaling more than 300 million dollars since 1994.

Crit Luallen says the state needs to spend more money promoting the parks.

Crit Luallen says a few years ago she started seeing that too many Kentucky parks were losing money so her office began to research why so many dollars were being lost.

In a report released Wednesday in Frankfort, State Auditor Crit Luallen says there are fewer people playing, camping, and firing up grills at parks across the commonwealth.

“Our report suggests our parks system need to have a very carefully thought out strategy a strategic plan on how they manage these parks in a way to maximize each of them effectively they have to spend more on resources that market the parks,” Luallen said.

The report showed many Kentucky parks operating costs are taking a financial hit.

This after hundreds of millions of dollars was spent to improve them.

Luallen says the state will now focus on ways to tell more people about what the parks have to offer.

Park regulars say they believe more promotion could be the answer.

Luallen hopes that changes as people become more aware of the benefits of Kentucky's state parks.

There are 52 state parks including 17 that have resorts.

Luallen says, as you might expect, she believes the number of people visiting the parks will go up during the summer months.

Between 1994 to 2008 the state spent nearly 55 million dollars on golf related projects.

The number of golf rounds played at Kentucky's public courses has dropped steadily.