The base pay proposed for the CEO of Whidbey General Hospital seems excessive to me, compared to the salary of Island Hospital’s CEO who has been on the job for many more years.

But it is not only that, Whidbey General states it is in financial difficulty and the new building proposed for the Whidbey General South Clinic has been put on hold for the foreseeable future because we can’t afford it. There have been times in the last several years when there was concern about meeting payroll, and the theme in our meetings is that we have to cut back and that makes sense.

This is not personal, I am sure Mr. Tomasino will do a great job. I hear nothing but good things about him. But it sounds like the boards of large corporations are not the only ones out of touch with what is prudent given the state of our economy and it isn’t very reassuring that the taxpayers have no say in this, it sounds like it is a done deal.

It worries me that this will not be looked on favorably the next time the hospital goes to the people asking for another bond. They can’t have it both ways, we are either doing well enough to afford this or we are struggling, which is it??

Pat Wallace

Oak Harbor