Pay
 

I am new to officiating and was told we get paid at the game site with a check this upcoming season. I have a friend who says his state pays the officials with a check once a month from their association. I was wondering what the norm around the country is. What do most state or areas do, pay at the site with a check, have the check mailed to them by the school, or get paid by their local group or association.

In my association, we get paid 3 times a year: fall ball (rec), winter ball (HS) and summer ball (rec). We are paid by check from the association. The association bills the schools/rec leagues and then we are paid. I have never been paid directly by the school or league.

Different Association, same way of payment.

In my area (Milwaukee, WI) we get paid by the school and it is about half on the spot and half check in the mail. It usually a week to 2 weeks until it arrives. All playoff games are paid on the spot.

In PA
 

In Western PA, we are paid by the school district at the game by check.

For playoff games, we are paid by the State a month or so after the playoffs are done.

In Southern IL
 

In my area, we are paid at the game. Usually the checks are in our locker room waiting on us. Other times, the AD will come meet us in case there are any problems and then give us the check. Obviously, in a gym I'm new to, I prefer the second one.

We get paid monthly. Schools pay our association. Association treasurer pays us our game fees for the previous month in additition to paying our 2 assignment commissioners (high school & rec league) who get 8% of our game fees.

For anything other than school ball we get paid twice a month. For school ball, we get paid at the end of the season. The money goes from the schools to the association and then the association pays us. We do not deal directly with an AD or anyone like that. Our assigning fees that get taken out are 5% on the girls side and 6.5% on the boys side.

Z

Wow that's a bargain, I heard that the association I work for charges a Booking fee10% to 15%, a game fee which is almost $30 over our officials pay and then they take a 10% fee out of our checks..

What is the High School Varsity rate in your states?

In WI are rates for varsity games range from $50-$65 dollars!

Most varsity games are assigned by a conference commissioner paid by the schools, nothing is taken out of our checks. In my area assign the lower level games and I am paid by our association through our dues. I will I got paid 5% or 6.5 % or 10%, might have to bring that up at our next general meeting?

In my area we are paid by the home team school district...normally 2-4 weeks after the game (depending on their AP cycle). Nothing is withheld for the chapter, assignor or Uncle Sam.

Up side to this is that unless you work a lot of games for a particular district, you will not be getting a Form 1099...so the decision to report the income is up to the individual...and failing to report cannot be noticed by the IRS...not that I would ever do something like that...or suggest that others do that...that would be illegal.

in my high school association we get payed $76 a game ($56 for JV) by check at the game. Then the AD is billed yearly for assigner's fees which is payed directly to the association

We are paid monthly by our assignor, we 1099'd we since we are classifed as independent contractors. Our games fees are $55 for V, 42 JV and $36 for F. Most games are 2-person; 3-person games we are paid $49.00/game

In this state we get paid all kinds of ways. You can work at places that will have a check or cash waiting for you when you arrive at the game site. There are other places that will require a voucher being filled out and you might not get paid until the season is over or weeks after the contest. How we are paid is up to the conference, school or school district.

Peace

Ohio - fill out an voucher 80% of the time and wait 1-8 weeks for your check in the mail. Most of the time, you are paid within about 10 days.

The other 20% is cash or a check on the spot.

At one school in particular, the AD has a check book just for game staff pay and writes your check on the spot. Memo to ADs....WE LIKE THIS!

This is criminal. You should lead a revolt of the membership. That's outrageous.

Why is that criminal?

At the very least they know about what the fees are. We work for assignors and no one knows what the assignors are paid for assigning games. What the schools pay the assignor should be between the schools and the assignor.

Peace

Open Books ????
 

I thought that school districts had to have open books.No pun intended. So at some point you could find out what the assigners are being paid.

Usually they are not going to have to go into that much detail...you will see a line item for "contract labor" or "consultants" or a similar grouping.

Who is going to require them to do this?

I work for a lot of private schools as well. Private schools are not subject to the same laws/rules as a public school.

Peace

The Law
 

Well I am assuming that school districts have open books because its the law. I believe Larry S answered the question I posed. Agreed that private schools don't have to show their books to anyone.

B/c the association charges a 10%-15% booking fee and then another 10% is taken out for something else. That's 25% of every game check? To me, that is worthy of a revolt.

Exactly. So why is the association taking out a 10% booking fee?!?!?!

What's the difference if the assignor gets paid by the membership in form of kickback or directly by the school? The bottom line is it costs each school $X per game for officials, and that cost includes assignors fees.

Are you suggesting assignors should not get paid?

This is the same question I have. We get paid a fee for our officiating not assigning. If the money is coming out of anywhere that is based on what the school/district/conference feels is fair. After all it is their money and if they want to pay someone to assign the games that is there business.

Peace

Depends on the assignors, but many are deducting $2 per game from the post-season mileage checks. Others request payment of the assignment fees directly--usually $2 per game. Some assignors do not charge anything. Some ADs do their own assigning.

Game fees are paid on site 75% of the time and the others mail them within two weeks. Most require a W-9 [I have never had to fill one out in subsequent years] and some require a voucher for each game. The business managers are the ones who have caused most of the problems here in Vermont with delays of payment and the ADs who do not have checks at the game site are without exception apologetic for the changes [which have occurred at about mid-season 2004-05].

All in all, it does not seem to be too bad a system here with the exception of the two game fees split 3 ways with 3 man crews.

Maybe it's just me, but I think it borders on being unethical for an assignor to receive payments from the people who receive his assignments. The money changes hands too many times. It goes from the school to the official to the association to the assignor. Just seems like too much possibility for funny business. Streamline it so that the school pays the officials for the game and the school pays the assignor for making the assignments.

Of course not, but 25% of every game check is usury. The MA fee for a varsity game is $72, I believe. 25% of that is $18. I work roughly 20 varsity games a year. That would be a charge of $360 per season! I pay a third of that for my college schedule!!

Let the assignor negotiate an assigning fee with the schools and let the officials negotiate a game fee with the schools.

I've worked three different sports over 3 decades in Texas and it all works the same way: we fill out a form at the site and get paid by check from the school (or school district) 2-4 weeks later. Some districts pay faster than others. With a few exceptions, I've found private schools pay the quickest. I can probably count on 2 hands the number of times I've been paid in cash at the game, but it has happened, but I don't think I've ever had a check waiting for me. I think I've worked some tournament games where I got a check written to me after my games, but that may have been summer league stuff and not school.

I think I've only been stiffed twice: both by the same (former) Wilmer Hutchins school district (formerly) in the Dallas area. Corruption got the best of them a year or two ago. Several other districts, including Dallas, pay pretty late.

In my first year of basketball, the varsity assigner assigned a varsity official 3 games for the night: the frosh, JV, and Varsity game. Sometimes, it was only the JV and Varsity. Anyway, the official was responsible for getting a younger official to "jump" their FR/JV game, and they would pay the official in cash and take the school fee for the 3 games. I did that a lot. They eventually did away with that system, though from a non-financial standpoint, it makes a lot of sense.

Oh wait, I see what you're so excited about.

25% is excessive, but I'm not entirely sure REFVA knows what he's talking about, he said "...I heard that the association I work for charges a Booking fee10% to 15%, a game fee which is almost $30 over our officials pay and then they take a 10% fee out of our checks.."

In any event I understand in the MD/VA area associations assign virtually *all* games, so they don't actually act as associations they act as agents. And they take their cut off the top.

I would hate to have to have to officiate under that agreement.

I guess I see your point to some extent. I just do not see a difference in who gives you the money if in the end you get the same money.

I also do not understand why associations are given so much power in the first place. It sounds like there are many conflicts involved with associations assigning games for a certain number of officials.

I am just glad I work in an NCAA type system. You work for the conference and there is an officiating supervisor for each conference. Your entire schedule is not in the hands of one person or one group.

Peace

Not a revolt, but small guys are popping up within that association and taking some business away from them. It's not to far off before they will start to loose good officials as well as contracts.

$72 per game at a varsity level, is it 3 man or 2 man? We get paid $56 for a 3 man crew.. This is why I mentioned in my earlier post.
I had some conversations with AD's, they get charged 10% booking right up front before any game gets officiated. Then they get charged $80 to $85 per game per officials. So bottom line is they make a ton of money.. The association also has other membership fees in the scheme of it's small.

The MA fee is $72 (maybe $73 this year) for 2-whistle and $58 for 3-whistle.

That's how it is done here on the Peninsula. Our elected assigner/commissioner (2 year term) negotiates game fees with leagues/schools. Our pay roll sheets that accompany our checks reflect the negotiated game fee for each game minus the 8% commissioner's fee. The commissioner does not get any cut of our travel fees.

Our by-laws state that association members cannot work in leagues and tournaments for which our association unsuccessfully bid. Our assocation has all HS & MS ball locked up on the peninsula so this almost always applies to rec leagues and one particular military tournament. This is definitely a bone of contention among our constituency.

It amazing to see how different rules apply across the country, it would be great if there was more continuity especially at the High School level.

Why would that be "great?" It's a local issue, to be decided by local schools and local officials associations.

In our association, we pay the assignor a fee of $65 for the season. He also gets paid a set fee from the schools that he assigns for. He also charges the schools a fee of $25 if they choose to make any changes in the schedule after it is turned in. We get $55 for three officials in V, $45 for JV.

Bob, I think you meant to say it's a regional thing. ;)

A little off the path, but this is the most recent thread I found talking about game fees.

Anyways, I worked a JV girls game on Tuesday night. I got paid $32 for those duties. This morning, I worked at the same school, however, this was a girls varsity Turkey tourney. I got paid $30 for this game. Talk about a drop off. :confused: :mad:

Like everyone (I know, I'm making a big assumption here) I'm an independent contractor. I belong to an association out of convenience and necessity...i.e., to get game assignments. The assignor is an elected member of our local association whose job is to make assignments for the HS and local rec leagues we work. The assignor works for the association, not the league/schools. He is not my boss; I don't work for the assignor...he, in effect, works for me and I pay him what amounts to a 10% commission to assign me games (yeah, I know, I live in a dream world :rolleyes: ).

We as an association, through our elected commission members, negotiate the contract (to include game fees) we have with one of the two local HS leagues; we work all their games. By association-league agreement, the only pay is game fees (there is no mileage pay because all our member schools are within a few miles of each other...very little travel) This is the way it has been in all four HS-assigning associations I've ever belonged to (aside from the travel-pay issue).

We pay our assignor 10% for all games (school or rec) and the association typically votes him a small stipend at the end of the school season. He works hard, does an excellent job, and in my opinion earns that 10%. However, if he's getting additional pay from the league/member schools without my knowledge, I'd be pissed and want to know about it.

I realize not every association is like this, but it's always been my experience. And BTW, we get only $40 per man per HS varsity game, 3-whistle crew; JV/Frosh gets $30 for 2-whistles...we ain't getting rich.:rolleyes:

In Louisiana public schools, we pay the AS $35 for the season and get paid at each game. The schools pay him $50 for jr high and $75 for varsity for the year. We usually get a check at the middle of last game. In our assocoation we normally do 2-man and get $16 for jr high and $18 for varsity plus travel. La. has three classifications of officials and the bonus for that is $1.00 and $3.00 per game. We also get $.30 per mile travel per offical. Believe it or not every so often an official will say "this sure is a great way to make money".

In private school, we pay the AS $30 for the season and the schools pay $75 I think. Most private schools pay in cash and most never ask for a signature or a SS#. We get $30 for JV and $40 for varsity with no travel. Most of the time we do 4 games a night when calling private schools.

After reading the posts above, I don't think we are going to have a great influx of officials from out of state trying to get a piece of the pie. :D

barryb

I would tend to agree, that does seem really low for HS games, in NH, as I've said before, we get $55 for JV and $75 for varsity

that goes for all sports also, the NH Athletic Association
standardized the pay for all high school sports

Joe

Really? Even in sports like football that require 4 or more officials? Even for hockey, which requires an additional "skill" besides officiating? That's very interesting.

I'm from NH as well and yes with a couple exceptions. For 3-whistle basketball it goes down to $55 each. In games like football where there are more than three officials, it does go down, but I don't know what it is.

We make out pretty good up here. The money is decent for games and we don't travel more than 40 miles one way.

Except for the guys that have to go to Colebrook, Pittsburg & Stratford.;)

TJones....
Did both of your games use the same number of officials?? We make a little less per game if we use 3 officials.

In Utah we are paid by the schools, thru check (voucher or game day depnding on school district accounting rules)

We pay no assigning fees. The Utah High School Activities Association pays the assigner for varsity. For JV the assigner is paid thru our association and its dues

Here is what we get
 

I've put the link for what our Chapter pays. North Texas covers all of the area north of Dallas/Fort Worth.

http://ntboa.org/uilfeeschedule0607.pdf