CEO bonus, cost overruns are incongruous

The new wing project of WhidbeyHealth Medical Center is $3 million over budget.

The revelation was announced at a hospital board meeting last week. During the same meeting, the board voted to give hospital CEO Geri Forbes a $60,000 bonus, which is on top of her $279,000 annual salary.

Once again, the tone-deaf board handed out the large check with little explanation of what Forbes did to earn it. Apparently it wasn’t for keeping a tight rein on construction costs.

Perhaps it’s not shocking that the hospital project is costing more than anticipated. Oak Harbor’s sewage treatment plant project is projected to cost about $20 million more than an estimate from just 15 months ago.

In both cases, officials blame the super-heated construction market in Seattle for driving up the cost of construction and materials.

The difference is the reaction of the elected officials. Oak Harbor Mayor Bob Severns sent out a press release expressing his grave concern after he learned of the cost increase. He promised to hire an independent firm to look into the entire project and he said he would hold people accountable.

City council members asked staff members tough questions and demanded explanations.

The hospital board, on the other hand, is holding no one accountable, and rewarded the CEO with a bonus.

Whidbey Island voters voted in 2013 to finance the hospital project with a $50 million bond, which costs property owners an estimated 32.2 cents per $1,000 assessed property value over 25 years. The project included the two-story, 60,000-square-foot wing and clinic space renovations.

WhidbeyHealth officials said they hope to apply for a $20 million low-interest loan from the USDA Rural Health loan program to finance long-overdue infrastructure in its original building and to pay for cost overruns of its new wing.

Information about the loan will be presented at 2 p.m., today, March 21 in the cafeteria of WhidbeyHealth Medical Center. Public comment will be accepted at the meeting.

This would be a good time for the public to remind the hospital’s board of directors and CEO that they must be accountable and answerable to those who are really paying the bills.