Tri-City Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Larry Anderson was granted a 4 percent raise last week by the hospital’s board of directors, which also awarded him a one-time 20 percent bonus — pushing his total pay in the last fiscal year to more than $700,000.
The Tri-City board voted 4-0 earlier this month to give Anderson a $103,000 bonus covering the period of June 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012, Tri-City media relations director Tarcy Connors said Tuesday.
The 4 percent raise, retroactive to Aug. 16, boosts Anderson’s annual base salary of $515,000 to $535,600. His total compensation includes bonuses and fringe benefits such as a $12,000 annual car allowance.
Voting for the raise and bonus were hospital board Chairwoman RoseMarie Reno and board members Larry Schallock, Charlene Anderson and George Coulter. Board members Randy Horton, Cyril Kellett and Kathleen Sterling were absent.
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Schallock said the board opted to give Anderson a bonus based on the quality of care the hospital provided over the past year.
“They’ve done extremely well,” Schallock said. “He (Anderson), the management team and the like, the hospital team in general has clearly met the quality standard.”
Schallock said the 4 percent raise puts Anderson’s salary on a par with other hospitals of similar size.
“I’ll be up front, they’re tough numbers to deal with compared to what the rest of us make or don’t make,” Schallock said. He said the board felt Anderson’s salary should be raised to keep Tri-City competitive with what other hospitals pay.
The public hospital district has made something of a financial turnaround since Anderson took the reins in early 2009. In the last two years the district has made a profit, although it has failed to meet profit projections over the last several months.
Still, Tri-City officials have said the hospital is making money and they expect to meet profit goals. The hospital must make $25 million in profit in the fiscal year that started July 1 to start a $593 million renovation and expansion of its campus, officials have said. The vote to give Anderson a raise came two weeks after two new board members were elected to the hospital board.
Newly elected board member Julie Nygaard said she couldn’t say whether Anderson merited the pay raise and bonus.
“I can’t make that kind of call without having the opportunity to see what he was evaluated on and how it’s done,” Nygaard said.
She said it was appropriate for the outgoing board to evaluate Anderson’s performance because they were in office for the period the evaluation would cover.
Anderson’s contract requires the board to review his pay each year. There is no requirement that the board give him a raise. The latest increase comes on top of a 3 percent “cost of living” increase to his base pay in December and a $115,000 performance bonus given Anderson in August 2011.