Leonard Harkless – facebook: ” I will respond to the referee portion of this letter. The referee fund that is given to the referee panel is distributed to the referees for help in paying back some of the costs of travel for the referees. This is given out based on a point system. The referees get points based on their referee level and how many days they work. This system ensures that the Master level referees would get more travel money than the Senior level. The Junior level receives no travel money and is there to help in the staging area. This is a huge incentive for the referees to get better and test for a higher level.
The total points are added up and divided into the pool of money collected for the referees from the entry fees. A referee can only receive up to the total cost of transportation, so for instance if the referee earns 800.00 based on the points and their travel is only 150.00, then they only get 150.00 and the extra money is used for other referees travel. We have master referees with travel costs of 1800.00 and they only get 900.00, The referee panel and myself have been using this system since 2002 when the referees first started receiving some of their travel expenses. I know that there is arguments about other issues with money but other than some of our money being used last year for the technical staff, which I was very upset about, the referees should be left out of these discussions.
