Fresno City Councilmembers request state AG investigate Valley Children's Hospital
FRESNO, Calif. (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.
RELATED: Valley Children's Healthcare responds to Fresno City Council regarding pay of CEO
In a statement released on Thursday, Board Chair Michael Hanson responded to the council member's calls for a state investigation into the hospital, writing in part:
"It is clear that these two local elected officials - including one in the midst of a political campaign - are simply calling for this investigation today to garner further publicity for themselves. It is disturbing to see elected officials attempt to use children's healthcare to garner media coverage. Valley Children's Healthcare has already made public the facts that refute the erroneous claims of these two politicians."
Action News has reached out to Attorney General Rob Bonta's office for comment but has not heard back at the time of writing.
During an interview with 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.
RELATED: Documents show how Valley Children's CEO pay compares to other hospital leaders
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.
