FRESNO, Calif. (KMK/KFSN) — Fresno City Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Gary Bredefeld have signed a letter asking California’s attorney general Rob Bonta to investigate Valley Children’s Hospital’s operations.
The request comes a day after Valley Children’s Healthcare responded to the councilmember’s claims that it uses hospital proceeds to fund executive salaries.
Action News has reached out to Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office for comment but has not heard back at the time of writing.
While the hospital is not in Fresno County, Board Chair Michael Hanson wrote to the Fresno City Council one week after Bredefeld and Arias called for investigations into CEO Todd Suntrapak’s multi-million-dollar salary.
“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.”
–VCH Board Chair Michael Hanson
During an interview with KMJ’s News Partner ABC 30 /Action News, Valley Children’s Healthcare spokesperson 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.
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.
