Getting paid

[Ohioref3]

What are most associations doing as far as paying their officials? I came from a place where you got paid on site by the athletic administer to now where we get paid once a month and have a certain percentage taken out of our checks to cover dues which is anywhere between 6-10% of our check. As an official what would you rather have done, get paid at the site or get paid once a month with all your games for that month added to your check.

[whaddayouknow]

10% - paid on site; 90% - mailed a check for the full game fee. The checks arrive 2-6 weeks after the game.

Also...

You might want to do more research on what constitutes a "independent contractor" vs an "employee". What your organization is doing could well be considered an employer/employee relationship, requiring them to pay FICA and unemployment insurance.

[mcrowder]

PeeWee - 50% paid on site, 50% paid on site, but 1 week after the games.
SubV/V - checks for full amount mailed about 10 days after the game. (Dues to the association are paid before the season starts).

[simpson]

Kansas - Everything is paid on site. (Unless you sub for someone and they have the wrong officials name. Even then, you can usually just work that out with the guy you are subbing for.) Association dues and state fees all paid before the season.

[JasonTX]

Most schools will average paying the full amount within 2-3 weeks. No money is taken out and the check comes directly from the school to my house. We pay our dues at the end of the season for next year. $95 will cover the state dues and local asscociation dues.

[Warrenkicker]

Originally posted by simpson
Kansas - Everything is paid on site. (Unless you sub for someone and they have the wrong officials name. Even then, you can usually just work that out with the guy you are subbing for.) Association dues and state fees all paid before the season.

Simpson - where are you at? I am in Wichita.

You are correct for the most part. All checks are given before the game starts. Except in the Greater Wichita Athletic League. The member schools will mail out the check a few weeks later.

It is common when you are subbing for someone to take their check and sign both his name and your name to the check. Banks always seem to take these with no problem.

[l3will]

Varies by school.... MN..

Some pay each official on site.
Some have us fill out vouchers and then mail checks.
Some pay referee the entire crew fee, who the writes checks to crew members.

Fees and/or dues vary by local association and assigner.

[bigwes68]

In Knoxville, TN, the school pays the officials' association before the season for all the games the association will cover. For Varsity games, the referee will get the check before the game, he will cash it, and pay the crew on the way to the game. For JV/Middle School, sometimes we will get the money before the game, sometimes it will be a day or two afterward. But all the money goes through the crew's referee.

[tempestos]

In Arizona, we are always paid on site. Probably 50% in cash, other 50% by check. We usually receive payment when we arrive for the game, but sometimes get paid at halftime.

[simpson]

Warrenkicker-
I'm in Topeka. (I actually live in the KC suburbs, but I work in Topeka and I'm on a Topeka based crew.) We mostly work 4A and 5A with an occasional 6A game.

As far as pay goes, I've never worked a game that didn't pay you beforehand. I'm not sure I would really mind having the check mailed out after the fact, it just never happens. None of the schools withold any dues or taxes or anything, though some of them file 1099s or whatever tax forms with the feds. The Topeka school district got audited a couple of years back and now they file on every contractor whether they earn above $500 in a calendar year or not.

[Gman34]

In KY:
Elem or Pewee: Cash at game
Jr High: Check before game
FR,JV,V: Check before game
NAIA: Check in mail or before game

The KHSAA requests that the checks be delivered to the officials before the game. This can eliminate any problems after the game. As long as the AD or some other person besides the coach is delivering the check it isn't a problem. I've seen coaches who would be miffed for some reason and take his time after the game to give you the check. Some will even tell you that it has to be mailed knowing that he had the check there. There are a few High schools that will mail them and it is usually there the following week. I won't work for schools that take weeks to pay.

Baseball is tough because the coach usually handles the checks unless they have the person at the gate handling it. Rain outs are a bad deal. You could drive an hour to a game and it be rained out. Some coaches just won't take the time to communicate with you. I usually call when rain is in the forecast to check but sometimes they'll say they are playing while the game was cancelled houres earlier. I won't return to those schools either unless I get at least half the game fee. That is standard for our assoc.

[Suudy]

In WA here, our the schools pay our association. Twice a season, we turn in assignment sheets showing what we did and who drove. After the sheets are collated and totals tabulated, our assigning secretary writes checks to everyone and includes a spreadsheet showing where all the money went.

[michaelpr]

in GA:
3 options
-pay cash on site

-pay check on site and we have to carry it back to our association to deposit it and get us a check.

-paid at the end of the season.

it depends on what school system you are working in on how it is done. usually the small ones pay you right away, while the large system pays your association a big check at the end of the season. it is a good mix of money in your pocket during the season and a nice check for christmas.

ghsa is trying to get every school to go to the end of the season option.

[Forksref]

Mostly paid by check to the white hat before the game. White hat pays the crew with cash or writes checks. Large schools may have you fill out a voucher and get a check 1-2 weeks later. Large schools keep tab and may send you a 1099 in January if you do $600 or more. I got one last year because I do Basketball and Football in that town.

[Ohioref3]

Ok, It seems like most school districts and associations have their officials paid on site, and it seems like if you make over a certain amount of money at one school they tax you at the end of the year. My next question is if you do get paid at the site, what are your association dues in your state or association. Do you just pay a fee before the season or sport starts and that covers your dues for the year and whatever you make at that school when the school pays you is yours to keep? I am curious to see if it is more cost effective for the official to pay a one time dues fee of anywhere between $50-100 to your association and your game check is yours to keep with no money taken out, or get paid once a month and have say 7% taken out of your check to cover the association dues and get taxed for everything that you make at the end of the year. If you do alot of games and do get say $1000 per month on a check, with that 7% taken out you are looking at paying almost $70 to the association per month, that just seems like alot to me. And on top of that 7% fee, you also have to pay a $20 to the school district per season to officiate.

I come from a place where we paid a $40 fee to the association before every sport that we worked for that year, and a $20 fee to the scool district for the year which covered the state association fee and then we had to pay for the books and teaching material that was out of our own pocket. We would then go to officiate the game and when I got to the game there was a check waiting from a game administrator. They was no certain percentage taken out of my game check because I had already covered that with my $40 fee that I paid before the year started. And unless I made over I think it was around $500 for that year at one school I wasn't taxed at the end of the year. What system works better for everyone else? just curious.