Valley Children's CEO pay draws criticism from Fresno City Council members

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Two Fresno City Council members are drawing attention to what they call an "astonishingly excessive" salary for the CEO of Valley Children's Healthcare.

There was outrage at Fresno City Hall on Wednesday over multiple reports out this week detailing the compensation of Valley Children's CEO Todd Suntrapak.

Tax documents obtained by Action News reveal that in 2021, Suntrapak received more than $5.1 million in compensation.

A breakdown of his benefits shows a $1.7 million base salary with an additional $3.4 million in bonuses and more.

On top of that, the nonprofit leader received a $5 million loan for a new home. Reports say it's in Carmel.

The tax preparer writes the loan was a "retention incentive in lieu of other compensation."

The whole package now leading two Fresno City Council members to call for an investigation.

"That is why I'm calling for California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate how these state dollars are being spent," said Fresno City Council member Garry Bredefeld.

"Today, I'm asking for the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and will be submitting this in writing to its member of the Central Valley, Assemblymember Jim Patterson, to launch an audit of Valley Children's..." said Fresno City Council Member.

Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Miguel Arias allege that Valley Children's uses hospital proceeds to fund executive salaries, claiming some of that money came from public healthcare reimbursements, like Medi-Cal.

"Their 2021 tax returns demonstrate that they made a $354 million profit that year alone," said Arias. "Why isn't that money going to expand emergency rooms, to hire more doctors and nurses, to process kids who are sleeping in the emergency room?"

In response to those claims, the chair of Valley Children's Board of Trustees released a statement Wednesday.

"The Central Valley has built one of the nation's premier children's hospitals," board chair Michael Hanson said.

"In doing so, we have recruited and retained some of America's best executives, caregivers and team members. As such, the quality of our care and the fiscal management of our organization is, and continues to be, best in class."

PR firm AMF Media Group has been contracted by Valley Children's and is defending the hospital.

During a radio interview with ABC30 media partner KMJ on Tuesday, AMF CEO Vintage Foster said the hospital changed its bonus schedule in 2021.

So, Suntrapak received two bonuses in one calendar year but no bonus the following year.

"If you take that, I'm going to round up $1.6 in executive bonus pay, which the hospital and its executives earned, and his base. Todd really brought home an income of about $3, $3.2 million. Not $5 million."

As the hospital pushes back on the councilmembers' claims, Assemblyman Jim Patterson responded to Arias and Bredefeld's call for an investigation.

"Despite calls to audit Valley Children's Hospital, the state has no authority to demand information on the executive salary and compensation of a private, non-profit," Patterson said. "Any audit would only focus on programs and funding the Hospital receives from the state."

Four other Valley Children's executives made over one million dollars in 2021, all of them Senior Vice Presidents at the Company.

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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