Looking for any information on Officiating Boards charging officials an assessement fee for games officiated. On our Board in CT, we are charged an 8% assessement fee that goes to the Assigning Commissioner and pays for his time and related expenses. This fee is charged for all games (recreational or school level) assigned. This fee is paid at the end of the season.

I am trying to find out if this is a unique situation to our Board or very common across the country.

Does your Board charge a fee?
If so how much?
What state do you officiate in?

Any help is much appreciated.

I officiate in the provice of Ontario, my local association charges 12% of every game officiated. It's taken off the game fee, so when we recieve our cheque, we recieve the net of our games fees and this fee.

From what I understand 10% goes to the assignors and the other 2% goes to help upkeep our local board. But I could be wrong with that.

I don't know of an assignor who doesn't collect a fee.

In our association, all officials pay a $65 booking fee.

I am a little confused here.

Are you saying that you a charged a fee based on the entire season, rather than just dues to an association?

I live in Illinois and the officials do not play any kind of fee like that up front that I am aware of. In some areas the conferences have assignors and the schools pay the assignor for assigning those games. The officials do not even have to deal with that personally. If officials live in an area where there is not conference assignor and the schools assign the games, then of course they do not have to pay out anything as well.

I have never heard of such a fee. Then again our associations do not control assigning for the most part either. So that is not something we deal with here.

Peace

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JRutledge
[B]I am a little confused here.

Are you saying that you a charged a fee based on the entire season, rather than just dues to an association?
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On our Board (CT), we are charged a set dues that this year is going up to $115 per official, we are also assessed an 8% assessement on all games assigned (all rec & school games).

Hope this clears up the confusion.

Why does your board not just pay fees based on games and not ask the official to come up with money after the season? In other words, put the games assigned into the budget of your board (association) and base dues on what that fee might come to?

I guess I do not understand why this is not done all within the working budget of your group. All of my associations play assignor (if that is even needed) based on what they might do for us. It is usually in the budget or factored in with all of our other expenses.

Peace

I belong to the Waynesville/St Robert Official Association in Missouri actually location is Fort Leonard Wood. We have dues $25.00 a year and an assessment fee of $1.00 per games assigned by the Commissioner of the Sport.

http://www.wsroa.org

In addition to this 12%, we have to pay $10 if we make over $1000, and I believe it was a $95 registration fee in addition to this.

And lastly, you're IAABO fees are not included in this.

What in the world is cheque? Hehe. In Louisiana the schools pay the officials directly so the money never runs through the assignors hands.

The reason is that the commissioner doesn't want to be an employee. The association wants no employees. So they juggle the money in this way rather than just stirring the fee into the overall mix.

I am not a lawyer, but how is that any different than a conference playing the assignor to assign games?

Peace

Do you mean, "...how is that any different than a conference PAYING the assignor to assign games?"

I ask because that's the third time that you've wrote PLAY or PLAYING instead of PAY or PAYING.

If the association, with whom the assignor is a member, pays the assignor, the are IRS ramifications with regards to an employee vs. an independent contractor.

Also, different associations is different areas of the country are setup differently. Or have you never heard that different areas do things differently? :D

Our associattion dues are only $10 a year. so there's no way the assignors are getting paid from the 4000 measley dollars that we take in from membership. Each official pays a booking agent $65 for any post he officiates. The association doesn't benefit financially when I work a game. So why should the association pay the assignor to assign my games? Assignors have to be available to the schools from 8-5, 5 days a week. Most of them don't work regular jobs during the season. They have to be fairly compensated for their work.

In MO we pay our association fee of $25. When we get paid for a game, it's our money. The schools pay the assignors an amount (I think it's $2-3) per official they assign.

Here in Tidewater VA, we pay a 7% fee and 75.00 dues at the beginning of the year.

Here in Omaha, Nebraska, the Midwest Officials Association charges $35 for annual dues. That goes to the assignor and the board, etc., for operating expenses. That's just for basketball. Football was $25 last fall (since it was the association's first fall doing football, after about 10 years of doing just basketball). We are not charged a per game fee or anything like that. I don't know the specifics of the association's contract with the Metro Conference (the big school conference here in the Omaha area), so don't know if there's any monetary exchange there.

This must be confession time. As an independent contractor, I pay annual association dues of $85 and a $2 payroll check fee. For each varsity/jr.-varsity assignment (2 person mechanics), I receive $103. The max allowed to pay a CIF/CCS basketball official is $60 per game and a new 3 year state contract will be introduced for the 2005-6 season. I was told another association close by pays mileage for those that are assigned games beyond a certain radius from their place of residence.

Northern Nevada
 

We pay $75 dues and 3% on the gross(Game fees plus mileage)
AAR

My local HS board dues are $100. This includes my IAABO dues, state board dues, insurance, board executives salaries, etc. We pay no assessment for our assignments. The assignor is hired by the conference and they pay him directly. I believe that he is paid one game check per team schedule that he assigns. (So he gets 6 game checks per school, one each for boys var, JV, Frosh, girls var, JV, and Frosh.)

My college dues are $50 and we pay an assessment to the ECAC that varies depending on how many games we are initially assigned at the beginning of the season. It can be anywhere from $50 to $125, I think. (I never get enough assignments to pay the highest assessment. Oh well. :) )

For our local boys association we pay $45 for dues and 6.5% of our game fees are deducted from our check at the end of the season.

For our local girls association we pay $35 for dues and 8% of our game fees are deducted from our check at the end of the season.

Z

I am a member of the following Official Associations and pay the following:

Middle School: $30 assigning fee & $20 dues

High School: 5% & $75 dues

College: $125 booking fee each for 2 leagues

Rec Ball: $10 dues & 5% & One-game fee

JUCO: Don't recall paying anything

We pay association fees, but when we get games from the school, conferences or leagues. The assignors do not give us our money. Just like what Chris said. The school, conference or league pays the assignor fees to assign the games. Then when there is a problem with games and who got those games, a group is not responsible, an individual is.

This just illustrates my previous comments about officials in many areas being slaves to the association. Is there anything these groups do not control? No wonder there is a shortage over the country.

Peace

Re: Northern Nevada
 

How can they charge you 3% of your mileage...I'm thinking that might be a little illegal.

Wow do we have it good up here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota. I pay a $35.00 annual fee ($50.00 for both basketball and football) to belong to my association of roughly 85 officials. The collection of these fees takes care of the assigner and all other expenses for running the association.

In my area of VA, we pay yearly dues ($45 dollars, I think). Then we get charged 6% of every game fee, which goes to our board commissioner, who is also the assignor. The 6% comes off of the game fee, not off of game fee plus mileage compensation. We are looking at reducing the fee next year, to between 3% and 5%

When I was in DE, the we had two assignors, one for scholastic, the other for rec leagues. Each of them got a flat compensation rate that was paid to them out of our yearly dues. There was no percentage of game fees taken out.

I have seen many studies on referee shortages and I have never seen where "slaves to the association" or "assigning fees" have been listed as a reason.

I find it very worth it to pay my association to deal with schools in getting games and also in getting paid. I would hate to have to deal with individual AD's to solicit games. My time is much to valuable to be used in that way.

By the way, I find the term "slave" offensive so please find a better way to express your meaning. I joined my association quite voluntarily and I have the choice of officiating or not. I do not get beaten if I choose not to officiate. Your use of the term is in very poor taste.

Z

[Edited by zebraman on Mar 29th, 2005 at 02:52 PM]

You are too easily offended, but what else is new.
 

I do not have to solicit games. No one I know has to solicit games. The assignors come looking for you. If they like you, they pick you up. If they do not like you, your phone will never ring and your email with never be full. I turn down more games and opportunities than I accept. Especially when changes come in the schedule or games are added.

Well the term "slave" does not offend me. I will use it as I see fit, considering my background and feelings on this issue. You might not get beaten, but you sure are getting screwed for paying a fee that is should be between the schools and the assignor. Or if the assignor is hired to work those games, put the expense in the dues up front just like other expenses. I really do not care what kind of taste you think I have, we do not share the same value system on many things.

Peace

mthomas,

What board are you on. I am on board 7 (litchfield county) and I believe ours is 7%. I just paid mine so i'll have to go back and look....

We pay our assignor $1 per game, but it does not come out of our check. Our dues are $70 per year which includes IAABO. Considering all of the headaches our assignor goes through, I am surprised he only charges $1.

C, Mckenna

The answer to your question: Board 8 (Southeastern,CT).

Thanks for the reply!

Re: You are too easily offended, but what else is new.
 

I do not have to solicit games. No one I know has to solicit games. The assignors come looking for you. If they like you, they pick you up. If they do not like you, your phone will never ring and your email with never be full.
<b>
Like I said, I don't have time for that. I just fill out my availability and then my schedule is filled by our assignor. Simple one-stop shopping. I don't have time to deal with several phone calls or e-mails. My time is more valuable than the assigning fee I pay.
</b>

Well the term "slave" does not offend me. I will use it as I see fit, considering my background and feelings on this issue. You might not get beaten, but you sure are getting screwed for paying a fee that is should be between the schools and the assignor. Or if the assignor is hired to work those games, put the expense in the dues up front just like other expenses. I really do not care what kind of taste you think I have, we do not share the same value system on many things.

<b>
Why does it not surprise me that you do not care if others get offended. Just more ignorance. All the officials I talk to around here prefer to have their expenses deducted from their check at the end of the year. I prefer it that way too. Any expenses I pay to my association are well worth it.
</b>

Z

Re: Re: You are too easily offended, but what else is new.
 

All I do is send availability sheets to those that request them or return email from those requesting games for the next year. Not sure that takes a lot of time. It is also not unusual that I get called to work games and fill my schedule. All I have to do is answer the phone. I just got 2 games today and I did not even know they were coming. If your name is listed with an organization or you are well known, assignors call you. I do not have to pay anyone to simply answer the phone or respond to an email.

I did not see you so concerned about my opinion on some words I felt were out of line. But then again, I did not expect you to either. You basically called me names and questioned my value to this site. Now you want me to get all teary eyed because I used a phrase that not only I have the right to use, but describes your system perfectly in my opinion? Beatings were not the biggest part of slavery. I think you watched too many Roots reruns. Slavery was about control and taking advantage of people. That is what that fee seems to do in my opinion. Do you know what “my opinion” means?

Of course you are not going to find many people that do not like the system. If they do not know any better, they will go with the herd of sheep and not make waves. You have the right to spend your money they way you like, that does not mean the rest of us have to say it is a good idea. It is obvious that I am not the only one that feels that way. Just read the other posts. ;)

Peace

I've lived in both places where I've been forced to join a specific association and in places where I solicit games directly from commissioners and athletic directors.

Unlike Jeff, I've had to work hard at filling my schedule the past three seasons. Moving to a new state means that nobody knew me and I had to send letters, send emails, etc.

But the benefit has been this -- I took a few JV dates my first season in the state to get seen. I've worked one JV game the past two seasons. I have 38 varsity dates booked for next season. Compare that with an association I joined in another state -- I had to work a JV schedule for almost 2 seasons and then was lucky to be assigned 15 varsity dates the third season. Whether I got a full schedule was not entirely in my own hands.

Next season will be my third football season here and second as a crew chief/white hat. My crew is completely booked for 2005 and 2006. In another state I worked one varsity game my second year with the group and would've likely received a half-schedule my third season.

But now that my schedules are full, it's up to me to continue to perform on a high level to keep my schedules.

Three seasons ago, I was complaining about not having an assigning association. Now I'm not sure I'd want someone else to have so much control over how often and what games I work.

Re: Re: Re: You are too easily offended, but what else is new.
 

I did not see you so concerned about my opinion on some words I felt were out of line. But then again, I did not expect you to either. You basically called me names and questioned my value to this site. Now you want me to get all teary eyed because I used a phrase that not only I have the right to use, but describes your system perfectly in my opinion? Beatings were not the biggest part of slavery. I think you watched too many Roots reruns. Slavery was about control and taking advantage of people. That is what that fee seems to do in my opinion. Do you know what “my opinion” means?

Of course you are not going to find many people that do not like the system. If they do not know any better, they will go with the herd of sheep and not make waves. You have the right to spend your money they way you like, that does not mean the rest of us have to say it is a good idea. It is obvious that I am not the only one that feels that way. Just read the other posts. ;)

Peace [/QUOTE]

Another manifesto. Yowsah. :rolleyes:

Z

Z
 

<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_38.gif' alt='Sad' border=0></a>

Stop being a little baby. I thought you did not like anything I said? Why do you keep responding when you think I have no value to this board?

Peace

Northern VA (Cardinal Basketball Officials Association) - we pay 10% of all game fees (scholastic & rec) plus annual dues of $15 (I think). The dues covers insurance and state dues plus something else I can't remember.

We do not book our own games. All of my assignments come from either the scholastic commissioner or the rec commisioner. Works fine for me. For rec ball, we get paid for the spring season, summer season, and fall ball (at the end of each season). For scholastic, I get a lump sum check sometime in the mid-May early June timeframe. Makes for a nice vacation check.

Re: Z
 

You are right. It is pointless. My policy of not responding to you is hereby reinstated.

Z

In Portland Baseball
 

Here we buy the NFHS packet. Along with that packet is our association fee. The total for the packet is $75.

Officials then pay 13% of each game fee to our assigning commissioner. Schools and league also pay for his performance.

We are one of the lowest paid states for all official fees. Fuel costs in our state are also very high (that is because similar to New Jersey we DO NOT HAVE self serve stations and along with one of the highest minimum wage rates in the us) and in the central and eastern part of the state crews drive 200 miles (one way) to game sites.

You don't work to make money in Oregon.

THANK GOD!!!
 

Your life will be happier now. :rolleyes:

Peace

In Western PA
 

The schools pay the assignors (not sure how much) and the assignors will use referees from multiple associations. We pay the State an annual fee of $35 (I think) per sport to remain a certified official. I pay $55 each year to my association in dues - this year we got a shirt and a banquet (and a lot of bickering about how to spend the money) from our dues. The Schools pay us directly, so we keep all that. I am pretty sure the rest of PA works that way also. The trick here is to get in front of the assignors to prove to them you can ref. The more you know, the fuller your schedule will be.

For Playoff games, the State pays you a couple of months after the fact.

In So. Cal.
 

I'm in one of the assocations in Los Angeles. We pay $65 for association dues in October/November.

The schools within a geographic reason are forced to use the corresponding association. I do not know if the schools pay our assignor. The assignor and their committee have total control over our assignments.

We receive a check from the individual schools just prior to tip off.

When the assignments are given out we pay the assignor $3 for each game. If that game is scheduled and then cancelled we do not receive a refund.

We receive $45 for freshman through JV games and $56 for varsity games. We do not receive any mileage reimbursement until playoff games are assigned.

Our unit assigns over 1,700 games during the high school year. You can decide if the $3 fee is worth it to be the assignor.

I work in eastern Iowa/Western Illinois and basically book my own games directly with the school AD or am assigned them by a league commissioner. I get virtually no games through my association, it's main function is really training, rules meetings etc. If games are assigned by a league commissioner, I believe the schools pay them a fee for their services. I like it this way, I pick where I want to work and when. Doesn't take that much of my time to get a schedule together. Once the school AD's get to know you they send you an availability sheet prior to each season, or sometimes will call you, and you just let them know the dates you are available. Other than the dues I pay to the state high school association each year, that is it for me. I think paying someone 10-13% of my game fee is outrageous. I also get paid for all of my games either on the night I work or within no less than one week later. I can't imagine not getting paid until the end of the season. No way would I go work a JV/Varsity double for $80.00 and pay some clown $8.00-$10.00 for sending me a contract. I think that the five minutes it takes me to fill out an availability form or talk to someone on the phone is worth saving the money. Also, if you are paying the assignor out of your game fee, are you paying taxes on his cut too?

IowaMike:
 

Our 1099 is the amount we were paid by the school. Therefore we do not pay taxes on the Commish's share.

We have "pay days" -- in Oregon we do not get paid at game time nor do we get paid at the end of the season. We get paid about 12 times a year (that is Fed spring and Legion Summer schedules).

And Mike, being a freind of Rich Fronheiser (see his post above) I will gladly pay someone to assign games in my sport (baseball) where there are numerous rain outs and games changes during a season.