Tyler TASO Chapter agree to UIL pay scale

[AstrosDawg07]

The Tyler Chapter of TASO Baseball Umpires has agreed to call games this spring under the UIL's new pay scale, President Dwight Thomas said.

However, the chapter is still not happy.

The agreement came during the chapter's bi-monthly meeting Wednesday. The chapter will follow the pay scale outlined in section 1204 of the UIL's contest rules manual, even though "umpire chapters and their schools have always been able to agree on pay scales that best suit their needs," Thomas said.

"It boiled down to the fact that we wanted to cover the schools and coaches that have been good to us over the years, which is all our schools," said Thomas, whose organization officiates for 37 schools. "We are not happy about the pay cut we are taking, but we know it's best for our schools. We hope that the local superintendents will contact people (in the future) who work with the UIL and get the pay scale fair."

According to Thomas, baseball officials suffer financially under the pay scale because it's a "one-size fits all" plan. Officials from each UIL sport -- baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, etc. -- receive a base pay of $45 per game and a portion of gate fees.

Thomas said most schools don't take gate fees at baseball games. He said he hopes the UIL would consider creating a pay scale on par with the expense required to outfit new umpires -- between $500-700 -- and game lengths.

On Jan. 14, the chapter decided to challenge 1204. The challenge meant schools could have been forced to use outside umpires to call games when the season begins next month.

"Tyler's chapter of TASO umpires understand their disagreement is with the UIL and do not want to have area high school baseball games officiated by untrained volunteers or lesser qualified umpires, which could negatively impact the fairness of contests," Thomas said. "We have chosen to cover the games to show the schools and their leadership that we are there to serve them."

"Section 1204 is a bad rule and needs to be changed before the start of the 2009-10 school year."

The Tyler chapter consists of about 60 umpires, almost all of which attended Wednesday's meeting. One umpire decided to not call games this spring, Thomas said.

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