Taxpayers Fund SVMH CEO Sam Downing’s $4 Million Pension Payouts
Sam Downing, SVMH’s millionaire CEO
Even while advocating position cuts at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and diverting $11 million of the hospital’s funds from patient care to outrageous fees for out-of-town management consultants who are paving the way for privatization, CEO Sam Downing is looking forward to a taxpayer-funded pension payout of $900,000, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday in a major front-page story. That’s on top of $3 million in retirement benefits Downing has already cashed out even while continuing to work for a salary of up to $790,000 per year, and on top of his regular $150,000 annual pension payments.
While Downing and his allies on the Salinas Valley Healthcare Board tell community members and caregivers in Salinas they need to sacrifice for the good of the hospital, SVMH executives and Board members like Harry Wardwell make out like bandits at the expense of taxpayers and patients.