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Deal to reopen city golf course
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
Whether you’re a duffer or a scratch golfer, you’ll have another course to play shortly.
City council approved a contract Wednesday to pay $76,000 to David Boos to manage the Youngstown-owned Henry Stambaugh Golf Course on the North Side.
The city’s board of control is expected to finalize the agreement at its next meeting next Thursday. The course could reopen the next day.
The city usually opens the course March 1. Because of a general-fund deficit, the course has yet to open.
The city wanted someone or an agency to manage the nine-hole course without a subsidy, but it couldn’t find anyone interested in that arrangement.
Instead it came to a tentative deal with Boos, the course’s golf pro since 2006, to pay him up to $60,000. That money was for his salary (he had received $33,000 annually) and to hire five to eight part-time workers to help operate and maintain the course as well as to pay liability insurance and workers’ compensation costs.
The city will hire two part-time course cashiers and keep all of the course profits, said Jason Whitehead, the park and recreation director and the mayor’s chief of staff.
After rechecking the numbers, the city and Boos agreed late Monday to increase the contract amount to $76,000, Whitehead said.
“More money is needed to pay for staff so he can hire staff and keep his salary the same as previous years,” Whitehead said.
“When we looked at the documentation after all of his expenses, we agreed to increase the amount,” said Mayor Jay Williams.
The city increased green fees by $1 to try to have a break-even year, Whitehead said. City residents will pay $8.50, and those who don’t live in Youngstown will pay $9 for a nine-hole round.
The city lost about $26,540 last year on the course with $102,974 in revenue and $129,514 in expenses.
The course would have come close to breaking even if it hadn’t spent $24,000 to pave the parking lot.
No major course improvements will be made this year, Whitehead said.
City Councilman Jamael Tito Brown, D-3rd and chairman of council’s finance committee, said he’s “satisfied with the deal,” and pleased that the course is reopening.