Ozarks Region Deputy Director Carl Bonnell says he doesn’t put too much stock in visitor counts at individual Missouri state parks, perhaps because the revenue generated within parks represents the smaller fraction (25%) of the total revenue upon which the parks system budgets. The remaining 75% of operating and developmental expenses are covered by the constitutional, 1/10-cent Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax, first approved by Missouri voters in 1984, and reapproved multiple times since then.
Read MoreMultiple factors affect visitors, revenue at RRSP
