Assigner protocol
 

Does anyone else have an assigner that charges the officials for the use of their assigning website? (HorizonRef, Arbiter, etc.)
Just wondering.

Yes.

Some do, some don't.

We here in the Chicago area use Arbiter, and had to pay a fee last season. I forget how much it was, but it wasn't much.

Yes, I have 4 assignors, they all do.

I have two assignors who use Camron Rust's RefTown. There's no fee to us and it's a great assigning program.

Yes. I pay between $5 and $10 to each assignor for the Arbiter. This is (mostly) the fee that they pay for each email address they have on the Arbiter. (Some tack on a few dollars as profit...or to pay someone more tech-savvy to help them with it.) Assignors here are not willing to absorb the cost of several hundred officials (@$5-$8 each) and school districts are not willing to pay assignors anything extra, but now are requiring the Arbiter be used by assignors.

It's a business. The assignors are entitled to make money for their services. I find the fee a bargain for the convenience and reliability it provides me.

Some of our (RefTown) client organizations pass a fee on to their members, some don't. Some embed it as part of their "dues". Some itemize it separately. Some cover it out of their cut of the game fees.

Of those that explicitly charge a web fee, some do so at the same rate we charge the organization, some mark it up (perhaps including other expenses in the amount).

The most common, however, is to embed it in the yearly dues.

The amount RefTown charges is about $3 per official (somewhat less for large organizations)....so it isn't much per official however they chose to cover it.

That's what our board does, using Arbiter.

I appreciate the feedback. This was a new one for me, but I guess I'm not surprised with any of the posts. I agree that it's a very, very small percentage of my revenue and there is definitely a convenience factor.

Now if I could just get them all to use the same system so I don't have three different calendars to update every time I get a new assignment. :)

This is the benefit of the schools and we were sold that the schools loved it and used it to their benefit by having all the information about the officials. But when I go to the schools I still have to fill out information that is already listed on the Arbiter from address to Social Security number. And this past week I worked a game that I have had since March and I they had no record of me. This is getting old and silly. I would rather go back to where emails were used if I have to do the same things I did before to prove I am on a game. Granted we did not pay a lot, but the fact that we were told we must keep things up to date or else because the schools use the information, then if they do not use the information what is the point?

Off my soapbox for now!!

Peace

Land Of Steady Habits ...
 

Here in my little corner of Connecticut, we paid our assigner $26,775.00 for the 2010-11 season, plus we pay $2000.00 to use Arbiter. Most of this money came from our 7% assignment fee, $34,700.00 in these fees for the 2010-11 season. Our annual dues, most recently, $115.00, are usually kept independent of assignment fees.

Wow, is the 7% assignment fee paid by the referee or the the schools?

If by the referees 7% plus $115 is pretty stout.

How many Schools are being assigned?

What's the difference? In the end, the fee is paid for by the officials. If the school is willing to pay $100 and they have to pay a $7 per game fee, they aren't going to pay $107. It means $93 goes to the officials.

It's up to the assignor to tell the officials that either it's (1) $100 minus a $7 fee or just $93 with no mention of fees. Assignors aren't doing this for their health.

That is a lot of money to pay an assignor. I guess for the person that is good thing, but that seems a little steep. How many schools are involved?

Peace

I know of an assigner (high school) in an area I used to live in that makes $100,000 per year. He had so much power he was trying to get two areas to allow him to make the schedule...the game schedule as in he is the assigner and he would decide when school A played school B.