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A high school referee shortage around the state has created a financial hardship for Limestone County athletic programs, and the Limestone County Board of Education is looking for ways to help, said Athletic Director Rusty Bates.

The Alabama High School Athletic Association recently raised the pay of game officials in all sports in order to attract more officials. This came after the association faced a major shortage in numerous sports, sometimes even having to cancel games because there weren’t enough officials available to cover the event.

Referee pay comes from each individual school, and the additional payments have left schools short and needing to find more money from somewhere.

“(The AHSAA) is in an officiating shortage, so they’re trying to lure people into it,” Bates said. “It’s like when we had a bus driver shortage one time, so we raised the pay to try to lure more people into that. But unfortunately, when the fees go up, they pass it on to the schools.”

Some of the ideas discussed at a recent school board meeting included raising admission prices for games. Admission for every sport except football is $5 per person; football admission is $7. Other ideas included either doing away with or adjusting the county’s Gold Card program, which is for people age 65 and older. Senior citizens who live in Limestone County can go to the central office on the first Wednesday of each month and pay $10 for a picture ID that allows them free admission to any sporting event at the six county high schools. The card is only good for the cardholder and can’t be passed on to anyone else.

The Gold Card program has been around for decades in one form or another, Bates said, but the current rendition has been in operation for a little over two years.

“It’s a good program,” Bates said. “It lets the seniors be able to enjoy the sporting events in Limestone County without having to pay a lot for it.”

Bates said the board was not in favor of doing away with the Gold Card program, and most were not in favor of raising admission prices.

“It’s a big of a check and balance,” Bates said. “You want to make money, but if you push too far, you’re going to kill your crowd because you’re going to price them out.”

In the past, the school system gave each school $10,000 for miscellaneous athletic costs, such as game officials, Bates said.

“The money helped with officials, security, finishing the gym floor and stuff like that,” he said. “We did that for several years, but when finances were not as good, we quit doing that.”

The board asked Bates to put together a plan that could possibly mean restarting that supplemental program and present it at the board’s February meeting.

“Most of the board members are for absorbing some of the costs,” Bates said. We’re probably going to propose going back to that $10,000. It will relieve some of that burden (for the schools) and that will help tremendously. Ten thousand dollars will be a good kick to help out with officials, and I think it will be good for the schools.”