Sunday: EMSA board gives Williamson 6 percent raise
By ZIVA BRANSTETTER, World Enterprise Editor on Jul 27, 2013, at 3:46 PM
Steve Williamson, CEO of the agency that oversees ambulance service to 1.1 million people in Oklahoma, has received a raise that brings his total annual salary and benefits package to $250,000. World file photo
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The convenience store chain was the sole distributor of the 50-cent stickers residents were required to place on bags of extra yard waste.
The plaintiff alleged in a lawsuit that he was made to perform pushups to avoid a ticket or jail.
EMSA’s board has given CEO Steve Williamson a 6 percent raise, six months after a critical state audit took him to task for “unwarranted and extravagant” spending of public funds.
The agency’s board also approved an annual budget last month that calls for spending $760,000 on lobbyists, public relations services and consultants while eliminating the first responder fee it pays to the city of Tulsa to reimburse costs for firefighters, records show. That payment totaled more than $680,000 last year.
The raise brings Williamson’s total annual salary and benefits package to $250,000. That includes a $202,000 base salary, $7,200 car allowance and $25,142 in retirement benefits.
EMSA trustee Clay Bird, economic development director for the city of Tulsa, said EMSA’s personnel committee recommended the raise. He said the board did not give Williamson a raise last year due to an ongoing investigation by the state auditor’s office.
“Based on their (committee) recommendation and the fact that EMSA is still a very well run service ... Steve deserved it,” Bird said.
The Emergency Medical Services Authority is a government agency that supervises a private contractor providing ambulance service to more than 1.1 million people in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and 14 surrounding cities. The agency has 53 employees in Oklahoma City and Tulsa who perform administrative work such as billing and customer service.
The agency is overseen by an 11-member board, who approved the raises in June along with the 2014 fiscal year budget.
Joe Hodges, a member of EMSA’s personnel committee, explained the 6 percent increase makes up for the raise Williamson would have received last year plus an increase for fiscal year 2014.
Read more in Sunday's World.
Latest News
The convenience store chain was the sole distributor of the 50-cent stickers residents were required to place on bags of extra yard waste.
The plaintiff alleged in a lawsuit that he was made to perform pushups to avoid a ticket or jail.
