Valley Children's Healthcare responds to Fresno City Council regarding pay of CEO

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Valley Children's Healthcare is responding to claims from Fresno City Council regarding the pay of their executives, saying they are "pushing back against misinformation and setting the record straight regarding recent criticisms of executive compensation."

The healthcare system sent a letter to city council Wednesday.

Valley Children's Hospital sent a letter to the Fresno City Council to share its side of the story Wednesday.

One week after details of the hospital's CEO's multi-million-dollar salary came to light, Board Chair Michael Hanson wrote, in part, quote:

"We are fortunate to have leaders of the caliber of our CEO Todd Suntrapak at a time when there is intense nationwide competition for them ... We are proud of the decisions we have made and proud of what we do for our community."

During an interview with Action News, hospital spokespereson Zara Arboleda explained Suntrapak's compensation was inflated for the 2021 tax year because of a one-time accounting change.

"It appeared that in one calendar year that people might have received double bonuses. But that was just by virtue of the complicated nature of tax filings," Arboleda said.

Valley Children's response comes a week after two Fresno City Council members gathered at City Hall to call for state investigations.

Garry Bredefeld and Miguel Arias allege Valley Children's uses hospital proceeds to fund executive salaries.

They claim some of that money comes from public healthcare reimbursements, like Medi-Cal.

"Absolutely not," Arboleda said to the claims. "Medi-Cal reimbursements are not funding the salaries and the compensation of our senior leaders."

Last week, Arias and Bredefeld distributed a 2021 tax filing.

It shows Suntrapak more than $5.1 million in compensation that year.

As Action News previously reported, a breakdown of Suntrapak's benefits shows a $1.7 million base salary with an additional $3.4 million in bonuses and more.

The hospital says Suntrapak met, quote, "significant performance goals" to get those bonuses.

As for the $5 million home loan Suntrapak received, the hospital says loans are commonly used to retain executives.

"Now, should our CEO leave within 10 years of that loan being issued, he would need to repay a portion of that loan. But this is something that is not unusual to Valley Children's at all," said Arboleda.

Bredefeld and Arias both told Action News the hospital's response Wednesday did little to address their questions.

They still want answers.

"I would challenge the board of directors to publicize the source of the compensation," Arias explained.

"We know that Valley Children's is a jewel. But what they've done has violated the public trust and there needs to be accountability and transparency," said Bredefeld.

Councilmember Miguel Arias says he and Councilmember Garry Bredefeld still plan to ask the state attorney general and the State Assembly for an investigation.

Arias says they'll formally submit the requests on Thursday.

ABC30 has a long history of supporting Valley Children's Hospital's work on providing life-saving care to local children. We will continue to follow this story as it's of great interest to the Fresno and Valley community.

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