For the love of the game?

[fullor30]

Good for those guys................

Talk about minimum wage.

Parks dept. raises pay for basketball refs

By Brandy Warren
[email protected]
The Courier-Journal



Basketball referees for Bullitt County Parks and Recreation will be paid more in line with their counterparts in other areas.

Last week Fiscal Court approved raising referees' pay to $19, up from $17.25, for youth games and to $23, up from $20, for adult games beginning this basketball season.



Parks and Recreation runs leagues in eight gyms for youths and three gyms for adults. Each game is staffed by at least two referees, and referees may officiate several games per day. Referees don't need certification.

Sign-up periods for leagues have ended.

Deputy Judge-Executive Depp Rasner said the referees hadn't received a raise in three years, and there was fear they would begin switching to other leagues.

"Without the raises, we were in jeopardy of losing some of the referees," Rasner said.

The raise request was submitted by Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Ed Etherton. He said last week that nearby communities had been paying more than Bullitt for some time.

When he looked at raising the pay, he said he compared Bullitt's rates to sports leagues for Little Flock Christian Church and Okolona Christian Church.

Etherton said the raises were needed to catch up and to compensate for the rise in gas prices. He said some of Bullitt's referees are military personnel who commute from Fort Knox.

Etherton said some referees had talked about looking to work elsewhere unless the salaries were raised.

"Losing these referees would have hurt," he said.