Over the last three months the WIAA Board members and the WOA Board members have been in negotiations over five different elements regarding official's fee structure. During the June 7-8 WIAA Executive Board meeting the Board agreed to the third element of financial negotiations with the WOA. That element is the RTO program. The agreement stipulates that the $160,000 that has been supplied by the WIAA member schools during the 2014-15 school year will be rolled into a $2 per varsity official, assignment fee. (Schools will no longer be billed directly from the WIAA office for the RTO program).
An additional part of the RTO agreement requires that a steering committee will develop goals, procedures, and a monitoring process during this next phase of the RTO program. The steering committee will be comprised of four representatives from each group.
The other four elements upon which the parties have agreed are as follows:
- The 13 % administrative fee will be rolled into the game fee so there will not be a separate fee charged to the schools in the future.
- Varsity game fees will be increased by $2 per official, per assignment. All sub varsity game fees will be increased by $1 per official, per assignment.
- There will be no increase in the middle school fees.
- There will be no fee increase for the 2016-17 school year.
The WIAA Board members felt it was important to increase game fees to the working official, due to the fact that those fees have not been increased for quite some time and officials have been told they would receive consistent game fee increases. The rollover of the 13% administrative fee into the game fee now requires local associations to determine the amount to be utilized for assignment fees and association administrative fees. Therefore, in the future, game fees will no longer be multiplied by 13 percent. The WOA state office will bill each local officials group $2 per varsity assignment to secure the financing for the RTO program. That will secure approximately $120,000 for that program.
The WIAA Executive board also believes that the RTO program is essential to improving the quality of officiating and increasing the number of officials. The value of this final agreement is that it secures a game fee increase for officials and caps the administrative fee that has been a part of the agreement in the past, at its current amount. The continuing of the RTO program with the guidance of the steering committee will improve the level of officiating and increase accountability of the RTO program.