Salinas Valley Memorial reveals exec retirement payouts over $1M

Amid public scrutiny over executive pay and layoffs in the past two years, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System on Monday disclosed the retirement benefit figures of its top executives.

Executive pay at the California health system has come under fire since it laid off hundreds of workers to turn around its finances. In April 2011, Salinas Valley paid out nearly $4 million in retirement compensation to former CEO Sam Downing--one of the largest public pensions in state history, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Now, two of the executives will receive more than $1 million in supplemental retirement payments, according to the article. Recently retired Chief Financial Officer John Fletcher, who made $340,897 a year, will see an annual pension of $108,552 with a $1.08 million lump sum payment, according to the Monterey County Herald. Similarly, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Bev Ranzenberger, who is making $340,897 a year, will earn an annual pension of $97,500 with a $1.33 million lump sum payment.

As for the other executives, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer David Perrott, who was making $340,897 a year, will have an annual pension of $50,616 with a $371,194 lump sum payment. Vice President of Business Development Liz Lorenzi, who was making $340,897 a year, will have an annual pension of $54,012 with a $357,873 lump sum payment. And Vice President and Controller Frank Katsuda, who made $272,051 a year, is not eligible for a regular pension, but he will receive a supplemental pension of $5,029 a month instead of a lump sum payment.

The compensation packages for the five executives, who have spent from six to 33 years at Salinas Valley Memorial, are in line with national standards for the hospital industry, according to spokesperson Adrienne Laurent. The hospital awarded the compensation packages when the hospital was thriving, Laurent said. Salinas has since discontinued the controversial executive retirement plan.

For more information:
- read the Los Angeles Times blog post
- read the Monterey County Herald article
- read the Californian article

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