Less than 1 month before local association meetings start. When does everyone elses start?

As the Vice-President of my association, that's my job. I'm working on the calendar now. We'll meet in January on Wednesday's: 4, 11, 18, 25, with four in February and two each in March, April, and May.

Our state meeting is 20-22 January in San Antonio.

I have three clinics scheduled for our local group (plate, bases, 4-man - used for all playoffs) and two for my district.

I'll also be the clinician for a District 7 and 9 combined clinic in McKinney, 4 February.

On the other hand, the local ADs turned down our negotiated fee, and our association voted unanimously not to call games this year. We're the only association within 180 miles, so the Youth umpires are going to get a chance to show what they can do.

In JV only.

The superintendent of each school must submit a letter of explanation to the UIL if that school did not use TASO-trained officials.

'Twill be an interesting spring!

Carl...interesting post.

First, as to the original post...we start here in the midlands of SC on Sunday, January 8. We'll go two hours every Sunday for six Sundays. We'll then have 3 on-field clinics on Saturdays...plus we have a state clinic on a Wednesday in February (where the test is given)...plus every member must work two scrimmages before the regular season.

Carl, we went through a similar situation with our local association this off-season. Our umpires (according to a Referee Magazine article, and according to various posts on the various internet boards) were the lowest paid umpires in the nation at around $35 a game. And frankly we were sick of it.

The South Carolina High School League says in their manual that umpires are to be paid $35 a game (or somewhere around that...I forget the exact amount but it was within a dollar or two of $35). Our local association (including myself as Vice-President) felt that we were grossly underpaid compared to umpires in neighboring states and compared to other officials in other sports in our state.

To solve this problem, I noted that the same SC High School League manual goes to great lengths to tell us that we (umpires) are independent contractors and not employees of the League.

So, I gave a legal opinion that the High School League's statement in their manual (that we were to be paid $35 a game) only constituted an "offer" and that we (our association) were rejecting that offer.

We then sent a letter directly to the 27 schools we serviced offering to provide umpires for their games at a new fee of $50, $55 or $60 depending on the school's location. While we were professional and cordial in our letter...we pretty much made it clear that it was a "take-it-or-leave-it" situation.

As I pointed out to our association board of directors: while it was possible that some schools on the outskirts of our territory could leave us and go with another association, the vast majority of the schools have to use either us or youth league umpires.

So, in addition to my legal opinion to our board of directors, I also gave a business opinion that the "supply-and-demand" model was way out of whack. Simply put: there is high demand for our services, but we're the only association who could supply the services we provided.

Needless to say, of the 27 schools, we had one complaint...and that school was an "outlier" school that decided to go with another association.

So now we have 26 schools paying $50-$60 a game instead of 27 paying around $35. I'll take that swap any day of the week.

Just another war story from the local association battle front.

Same old story here also
 

Every year we fight the same battles. Football and basketball officials make $55 and up per night, while baseball umpires settle for $40 - 45 per night.

We had just about gotten all of our local schools to go three man for district games, but they are backpedaling quickly for this season.

We have some of the best baseball in the state and the games have big crowds but they continue to complain that they don't have enought revenue to pay the umpires ... go figure.

As you stated, ought to be interesting to see if they come around or go backwards.

Thanks
David

Texas athletics is governed by the University Interscholastic League (UIL), which sets a maximum fee. Schools may pay less if officials agree. We get $40 for varsity games, a percentage of the gate (schools often don't pay that) and mileage at state rate (48.5 a mile this year).

Our proposal was for:

Varsity
$40 game fee (state mandated)
$10 gate (regardless of number of paid admissions)
$25 mileage (regardless of the distance travelled)

Subvarsity
$40 game fee
$25 mileage (regardless of the distance travelled)

They replied:

No, to everything. Instead, they said:
Straight UIL maximums for varsity except they had no intention of paying the state-mandated mileage allotment: "Hey, the school boards set our mileage limits, not the state."

They agreed to raise the subvarsity from $25 and $30 to $35.

No dice with us.

We have two associations in our area. We agreed to negotiate collectively and voted to turn down the "counter offer."

We've given them the phone numbers of the two nearest chapters. One is in Alice (120 miles from the center of our area) and Corpus Christi (150 miles from the center). For some schools, you could add 40 miles. Those are one- way distances. If two officials from Corpus called a game in Edinburg, the home school would owe the two-person crew $225.50 - if the other chapters had sufficient umpires.)

We serve 44 schools and one juvenile detention center.

The UIL requires the superintendent of schools to notifiy the state whenever a varsity contest is officiated by anyone other than a TASO (our officials state organization) member.

They may legally hire scabs (youth ball uumpires and coaches) for their JV, but they will have great difficulty finding "legal" umpires for their varsity.

Scrimmages start the first week in February. We won't call those because the UIL constitution states that if a chapter accepts scrimmages (which are paid at $50 for three hours), the chapter must provide umpires for JV and varsity.

The point: We asked the UIL office in Austin whether our proposal was within UIL guidelines.

They assured us it was.

Both chapters are meeting on 22 December to finalize our answer.

We live in interesting times.

Edited to explain what UIL means.

[Edited by Carl Childress on Dec 13th, 2005 at 11:19 AM]

Please tell me what UIL stands for...sorry if I appear ignorant.

Sounds in line
 

Doesn't make sense for the schools. That sounds right from the officials point of view. I know when I was in TX in 80's they paid mileage and it makes a big difference since you had to drive many times 100 miles + just for one game.

And now that gas has gone sky high, our association is also thinking about adding a mileage fee.. I can't afford to sacrifice my time and my family time if I'm not going to be compensated for it.

I look forward to hearing what happens

Thanks
David

University Interscholastic League. Here in Texas, they are the body that governs student competition, among other things.

In Northern Nevada (at least NorthWestern Nevada), we get $40 per JV game and $55 per Varsity game. We also get 36 cents/mile when driving and 18 cents/mile when riding. We do a lot of games that are a ways out, so we carpool those games.

Carl:

The IRS mileage rate for 2006 has been set at 44.5 cents per mile, exactly halfway between the January 1, 2005 rate of 40.5 cents and the September 1 emergency rate of 48.5 cents.

--Rich

You guys with the big travel fees have it made. Here we get $2 a game added for travel, with exceptions for out of town games, which have a $10 maximum for one vehicle only. So, if we travel from San Diego to Borrego Springs (over 100 miles, about half way to Arizona), we ride together, and the driver gets the whopping $10 for gas. We try to negotiate for more, but like in Texas, they usually say a resounding "no."

We don't use the IRS rate. Our rate is set by the Texas Comptroller.

They've told us know to our fee negotiations. So we have said no tlo their games.

Ball in Arkansas
 

We will start here on January 11th with several meetings in January and February and then back to one a month the rest of the year with clinics on weekends about once per month. Sorry to hear that you guys have been having problems with your local associations and their negotiations with the schools. We just successfully received a raise from our area schools to $50 for a single game, $75 for 10 innings, $85 for 12 innings and $95 for 14 innings scheduled. We do not charge a mileage fee for most of our schools as they are less than a 1 hour drive and have just included it in the base fee. I certainly hope that the schools come around and realize that you need to be paid for the job that you do.

Carl,

You probably have bargaining power over them, while we here have none. There are several umpire groups here which, pooled together, could easily handle the 81 high schools in San Diego County. They would tell us to take a hike, and we would be out of luck for working any games, since we already had the college ball yanked away years ago.

We have two associations and we combined to make the same request. The other associations are also underpaid. Get together.

In many parts of the US, the umpires associations inform the schools what the fee will be that year. It shouldn't be any other way.

That's the basis of independent contractring. When I need plumbing, I call a guess what, and he tells me how much I will pay if I want it done.

Hey, did you know that in my town, plumbers all chage the same for like repairs?

Gosh, wonder how they know what other plumbers are charging.

i've never received any travel compensation in the two associations in two states ive worked in. we get good game fees so its alright, but travel compensation would be nice when driving 45-60 minutes to most games.

And the Texas comptroller doesn't pull the figure out of his backside. Your rate will be down to 44.5 cents in January just like everyone else's because that's what the IRS will allow for business mileage deductions.

WEell, the rate is still 48.5 cents. Is the IRS figure NOW at 44.5? If so, what about the football and basketball officials who are getting 48.5? Will they have to pay texas on that extra 4 cents?

And what if the Texas comptroller, who knows someone very high up in Washington, decides Texans can't operate a vehicle at the current gas pices for less than 48.5?

The energy department said that crude would remain at $50 a barrel - permanently. That is, the days of $30 crude are over. I suggest the IRS will moderate its tone.

You're right, of course. Our comptroller doesn't pull the prices out of his "backside." I suspect they are carefully researched in house. Maybe that's not the way it's done in Wisconsin, where everything may be tied to the price of cheese.

Nobody, NOBODY pays more than the prevailing IRS rate for mileage deductions. If they did, that money would have to be claimed as income.

I looked at the comptroller's page. Reimbursement was identical to the IRS rate. And I was just trying to pass on some information, BTW. But maybe in Tejas, prices are related to the price of tamales.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Carl Childress

Quote:

Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser Quote: Originally posted by Carl Childress Quote: Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser Quote: Originally posted by Carl Childress Quote: Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser Carl: The IRS mileage rate for 2006 has been set at 44.5 cents per mile, exactly halfway between the January 1, 2005 rate of 40.5 cents and the September 1 emergency rate of 48.5 cents. --Rich We don't use the IRS rate. Our rate is set by the Texas Comptroller. And the Texas comptroller doesn't pull the figure out of his backside. Your rate will be down to 44.5 cents in January just like everyone else's because that's what the IRS will allow for business mileage deductions. WEell, the rate is still 48.5 cents. Is the IRS figure NOW at 44.5? If so, what about the football and basketball officials who are getting 48.5? Will they have to pay texas on that extra 4 cents? And what if the Texas comptroller, who knows someone very high up in Washington, decides Texans can't operate a vehicle at the current gas pices for less than 48.5? The energy department said that crude would remain at $50 a barrel - permanently. That is, the days of $30 crude are over. I suggest the IRS will moderate its tone. You're right, of course. Our comptroller doesn't pull the prices out of his "backside." I suspect they are carefully researched in house. Maybe that's not the way it's done in Wisconsin, where everything may be tied to the price of cheese. Nobody, NOBODY pays more than the prevailing IRS rate for mileage deductions. If they did, that money would have to be claimed as income.

[/b]One of us can't read. Here's the URL for anyone who cares.

http://www.window.state.tx.us/comptrol/texastra.html

And here's the relevant portion of that page:
At a Glance:
State Travel Reimbursement
Lodging up to $85.00 per day
Meals up to $36.00 per day
Mileage 48.5 cents per mile (as of October 1, 2005)

What am I missing?

[Edited by Carl Childress on Dec 14th, 2005 at 03:48 AM]

I'm sorry, but the Texas House (bad as it is) doesn't have the authority to declare anything unconstitutional. On the other hand, the Texas Supreme Court (everyone of whom is a Republican) did (7-1), giving the Legislature until June 1, 2006 to solve the problem.

As for "springing it on them," they have budgets, I agree. They also have contingency funds. The baseball chapters did not catch them unawares: We told them in August of this year.

The State Comptroller set the mileage rate on 1 October.
The UIL constitution <i>requires</i> that schools in competition pay for one car at the state rate, Mr. Fronhesier's information to the contrary notwithstanding - as the saying goes.

Maybe this will help...

http://apps.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=151226,00.html

All I did was go to Google and type milage deduction 2006 and this was the first entry. If the link doesn't work, blame the government or try the Google way. I can assure you that it is there.

I like tamales with cheese.

I knew it wouldn't be easy with a government mainframe...
 

Sorry lads, it didn't work correctly when I tried it, so here's the article.

"IRS Announces 2006 Standard Mileage Rates

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2006 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2006, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

44.5 cents per mile for business miles driven;
18 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes; and
14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations, other than activities related to Hurricane Katrina relief.
The new rate for business miles compares to a rate of 40.5 cents per mile for the first eight months of 2005. In September, the IRS made a special one-time adjustment for the last four months of 2005, raising the rate for business miles to 48.5 cents per mile in response to a sharp increase in gas prices, which topped $3 a gallon.

“The IRS took the extraordinary step of temporarily increasing the standard mileage rates in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said. “We promised to continue closely monitoring the situation. The 2006 mileage rates reflect that gas prices have dropped.”

The standard mileage rates for business, medical and moving purposes are based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. Runzheimer International, an independent contractor, conducted the study for the IRS.

The mileage rate for charitable miles is set by statute.

For the first eight months of 2005, the standard rate for miles driven for medical or moving purposes was 15 cents per mile, and, except for special Hurricane Katrina rates, the standard rate for miles driven in service of a charitable organization was 14 cents per mile.

For the last four months of 2005, the agency raised the standard rate for miles driven for medical or moving purposes to 22 cents per mile. The standard rate for charitable miles remained at 14 cents per mile––except for charitable miles relating to Hurricane Katrina.

Special Rates for Katrina-Related Charitable Miles

Congress this year also approved special rates in connection with miles driven in service of charities providing Hurricane Katrina relief.

For the period Aug. 25 to Aug. 31, 2005, the rate for miles driven for charities providing Hurricane Katrina relief is 29 cents, for deduction purposes, and 40.5 cents, for reimbursement purposes. For the months of September through December 2005, the special Katrina-related rates are 34 cents for deductions and 48.5 cents for reimbursements.

For 2006, these Katrina-related charitable rates will be 32 cents per mile for deduction purposes and 44.5 cents per mile for reimbursement purposes.

Revenue Procedure 2005-78 contains additional information and limitations on the use of the standard mileage rates."

I wouldn't trust the energy department. The oil futures market is the place for this info: some traders are betting on $90, others on $19 for next year, but a plurality are putting their money in the $50-60 range for the first 6 months of 2006. That's not the same as saying that we'll never again see $30 oil.

In any case, if gas is $2.50/gal and your car gets 15 MPG, gas costs you 16¢ per mile, less than 1/3 of the current IRS mileage rate. And, a 20% increase in the price of gas (to $3.00) would raise that number only 4¢.

I paid $2.09 yesterday and get 27 MPG, so gas costs me only about 8¢ per mile. Your mileage may vary.

The main factor in mileage is depreciation, which is only indirectly linked to fuel prices.

Gotta love the off-season.

Mileage prices
 

Mileage fees are not only about reimbursement for gas costs, it is also for wear and tear on a vehicle that I must use to get to and from my place of work (the ballpark).

So, the Texas rate in August was $.385 per mile. Gas spiked to three dollars a gallon. Texas raised the rate $.10 per mile, starting 1 October. That's roughly a 25% increase.

Do that mean that my car depreciates 25% faster when a hurricane arrives? Even if I don't live in Louisiana or Florida?

Actually, I believe it is related to beer...Shiner to be specific.

When the democrats are in charge is is linked to Lone Star.

While umpiring a tournament in Weimar, Tx I had the pleasure on our off days to visit two factories, an ice cream factory and a beer factory, what a wonderful state.

Re: I knew it wouldn't be easy with a government mainframe...
 

Windy:

That's all well and good, however, Carl's point has been that the UIL constitution requires that schools in competition pay for one car at the <b>state rate</b>.

At this time, the state rate is 48.5. To my knowledge, while most entities who pay mileage pay the IRS rate, there is no law that mandates they do so. However, any portion over the IRS rate is taxable.

CC wrote: <i>"As for "springing it on them," they have budgets, I agree. They also have contingency funds. The baseball chapters did not catch them unawares: We told them in August of this year."</i>


Just curious - how do schools get their budgets in place and approved in your area?

In NY, they have to be in place by late May and the district voters vote on the budget mid June. August would miss the boat here.

Funny you should mention that.

As president of the baseball and basketball chapters, I attended 6 seesions in six consecutive years - and they meet every month.

We were trying to get fees raised for tournaments (basketball) and JV games (baseball). My records show I was present in February, June, August, October, November, and January.

The chairman told me (six timesd) that: You're too early or you're too late.

Honest to God!

We've been twice this year, both times at the request of the ADs.

We were informed on Thursday last that they had raised the JV fee from $25/$30 to $35. That was their only concession.

Apparently, this time we were "just right."

Or, they devoted contingency plans to the "raise."

Garth,
What is your reading issue?

WWTB

Gas, tires and oil, as the old saying goes. These are function of mileage. Depreciation and insurance are function of ownership. Point is, that the cost of travel to a game is more than just gas. Substitute "maintenance" for "oil" in above and the costs will go up substantially on a per mile basis.