2 Questions for FED umpires

[ptmac]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

I wasn't referring to the Superclinic years, as our league reimburses us for those. I am referring to the years where we have to fork over $45 to write an exam..

Think of it this way - You're paying $135 for three years including three exams and one superclinic. I don't understand why your 'league' would reimburse you for this. Other centers reimburse upon completion of a certain number of games umpired....but only if you umpire exclusively for them. I'm not aware of any area in at least Southern Ontario where a L3 umpire would leaguework exclusively for any association

Originally Posted by canadaump6

This is the first I have heard about the fee including insurance. I found nothing about it on the Baseball Ontario website, but I probably overlooked something again...

If your association pays the fee, any insurance payments to you for injury etc are taxable. If you pay the fee (not reimbursed), they are non-taxable. This insurance has been part of the certification process for at least 15 years....

Originally Posted by canadaump6

It is not really the money that is the issue, although $45 does cost almost 2 game fees around here. It is the principle of having to pay to serve your association that I strongly dislike. One would think that if they wanted level 3 umpires, they would pay their examination fees every year. Most workplaces pay their employees to take training, not the other way around. From the looks of things, it seems as though others are faced with the same issue.

I don't know about you, but I'm not an employee of any association. I umpire for a number of different leagues etc - why would one pay and another not? The real issue is - do you want to be a top quality umpire or not? In the larger scheme of things, an exam/certification/association fee is the least costly thing I do in umpiring - and there's a whole host of things that deserve more of my energy than that.