CEO pay falls in Valley Children’s latest tax filing. See how much

Responding to criticism in March about the salary of Valley Children’s Hospital CEO Todd Suntrapak, the health system publicly released its most recent 2023 tax filing on Friday.

News reporting earlier this year on Valley Children’s Hospital Form 990s found Suntrapak’s compensation package totaled more than $5 million for fiscal 2021 and 2022, igniting a debate on executive pay in the nonprofit health care sector. Fresno City Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Miguel Arias called for audits and investigations into the matter.

Hospital representatives defended Suntrapak, saying that bonuses and adjustments accounted for the $5 million-plus figures for those two years, and that his actual compensation package is closer to $3 million.

That turned out to be the case. For the fiscal year ending September 2023, Suntrapak’s compensation was $2.98 million, according to the latest Form 990 .

A Valley Children’s statement said the 2023 Form 990 filed this month shows that the compensation packages for the previous two years “were an anomaly resulting from a one-time accounting change and adjustments to retirement and benefits.”

A Fresno Bee analysis found Suntrapak’s compensation for 2022 among the top 3 for nonprofit children’s hospital CEOs in the U.S. Supporters countered that Suntrapak’s performance justified the pay and performance bonuses, noting in the 10 years since he became CEO in 2012, annual revenue jumped from $540 million to more than $1.1 billion.

In the most recent Form 990, four other Valley Children’s executives reported seven-figure salaries — Senior Vice President and adviser to the CEO Beverly Hayden-Pugh ($1.5 million), Chief Financial Officer Michele Waldron ($1.29 million), Senior Vice President Natale Ponticello Jr. ($1.16 million) and Senior Vice President David Christensen ($1.2 million).

“The 990 continues to list several senior leaders whose annual compensation reflects their many years of experience in their executive roles, as well as the need for Valley Children’s to provide compensation that attracts and retains talent at a level appropriate to a nationally recognized children’s hospital,” according to the Valley Children’s statement.

Another line of criticism was leveled at Valley Children’s community benefit spending, such as financial assistance for patients. For fiscal 2022, Valley Children’s reported $15.4 million in community benefit, or about 2% of total expenses.

Valley Children’s upped that amount in fiscal 2023, with $66 million in community benefit, or 8.61% of total expenses.

Hospital officials said that figure “presents only a limited picture” of the institution’s impact.

“Some examples of programs that fall outside the IRS definitions of community benefit include Valley Children’s addition of an epilepsy monitoring unit in the hospital to support the neuroscience program; the operations of specialty care centers and primary care practices in Modesto, Bakersfield and other cities throughout the Central Valley; and expansion of our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) located inside partner hospitals,” according to the Valley Children’s statement.

Valley Children’s also released its audited financial statement for fiscal 2023, which reported total assets of $2.28 billion as of Sept. 30, 2023 — up about 4% from a year prior. Total revenue in that period fell about 26% to $850.7 million, while salaries and wages increased about 6% to nearly $345 million.