YOUNGSTOWN — Some of the county’s spending has come under scrutiny, but the official in charge said there’s a good reason for it.

Last week at their regular meeting, the Mahoning County Commissioners approved two motions to sponsor golf tournaments. During an endorsement interview with a candidate for commissioner earlier this week — Canfield City Council President Christine Oliver is running for the Republican nomination to replace Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti — the sponsorship was mentioned. It seems some in the community see it as an example of money being mishandled by the county’s executives.

But Tara Mady, assistant director at the Mahoning County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said supporting the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour and the Presidents Athletic Conference Championship is something the county has done in the past and the small cost, paid out of specially allocated funds, is good for the local economy.

“Promoting these things in the area, bringing people in with these types of tournaments, just shows we’re a great destination, and more tournaments have come in because they’ve seen others held here,” she said.

The Hurricane tour, which the Visitors Bureau sponsored for $2,000 for the second year, will be April 17 to April 19 at Mill Creek Golf Course. That tournament welcomes 80 players aged 10 to 18, along with coaches, staff and families, all coming in from Ohio and several neighboring states. They all stay overnight in town for the duration of the tournament.

Affiliated with the larger American Junior Golf Association, whose main tournament is in June every year, Mady said the event represents a significant boon to local hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

The Bureau also spent $2,500 to sponsor the PAC Championship Men’s and Women’s Golf Tournament.

That event welcomes 150 college-age players, plus spectators, family, friends and staff to play at Mill Creek from April 23 to April 25. Mady said the county has hosted for the past three years, but this is the first year sponsoring the event.

The tournament comprises 11 men’s teams, 11 women’s teams with six players to a team. Players come from smaller colleges like Westminster, Grove City, Thiel and Waynesburg. And like the junior tour, everyone needs to stay overnight.

While she could not provide a specific number, Mady said the economic benefit well exceed the cost of sponsoring the tournaments.

She said the money for the sponsorship also comes not from the county’s general fund, but from a delegated account intended for this very purpose.

“A lot of people just don’t understand that this isn’t general fund dollars, this is lodging tax dollars,” she said. “This is what we’re supposed to be doing with it. So by doing things like this, we’re doing our job.”

The lodging tax, which is collected by a 5% charge on every hotel and motel bill in Mahoning County, generated $2,353,802 in 2025. Mady said 70% of that — $1,647,661 last year — goes to the Western Reserve Port Authority, while the remaining 30% — $706,140 in 2025 — comes to the Convention and Visitors Bureau and is used to encourage events like the golf tournaments to come to the county.

“There is just a considerable amount of money spent in the local economy and it exposes people to the course and the area, and maybe then they want to come back on their own,” Mady said.