UMC boss gets big bonus while workers face layoffs: One commissioner says no

By Brittany Sheehan  

Nevada News and Views

Here’s a story that might make your blood boil a little. At a recent county commission meeting, Commissioner April Becker stood alone against her fellow board members.

The issue? A $250,000 bonus for the CEO of University Medical Center on top of his nearly million-dollar salary. And this is happening right when the hospital says it needs to lay off workers.

Becker was the only commissioner to vote no. She made a short video about it and posted it online.

“I hope you watch this 2 min video,” she wrote.

The Numbers Don’t Add Up

Let’s look at the facts here. When the UMC board was created back in 2014, the CEO made $220,000 a year. That’s a good salary by most people’s standards. Fast forward 10 years, and now that same position pays a million dollars. That’s more than four times what it was.

“I’ve never seen that jump from a salary of $220,000 in 2014,” Becker said at the meeting. “And now we’re looking at a million dollar salary.”

Think about your own job. Have you gotten a raise like that in the last decade? Probably not. Most working families have watched their paychecks stay flat while everything else gets more expensive.

Workers Pay the Price

Here’s where it gets really tough to swallow. While the CEO is getting this huge bonus, regular employees are being let go. Becker said 100 people are losing their jobs. Other UMC workers are only getting shifts one out of every two days. That means their income just got cut in half.

“When you tell me that you’re letting workers go, that really upsets me,” Becker told her fellow commissioners.

“Because guess who is on that floor when my family member comes in with an emergency? It’s a nurse. It’s a doctor. It’s someone that’s on the front grounds fighting.”

She’s got a point. When you or your loved ones need emergency care, you’re not calling for the CEO. You need those nurses and doctors who are now facing job cuts and reduced hours.

Why This Matters to Conservatives

This story hits at the heart of what limited government is supposed to mean. UMC isn’t a private business. It’s a public hospital run by the county. That means taxpayer dollars are involved. When government-run operations act like this, it shows exactly why conservatives worry about big government.

In the private sector, if a CEO gets a huge bonus while laying off workers, at least it’s not your tax money at work. Shareholders can complain or sell their stock. But with a public hospital, you don’t have that choice. Your tax dollars go there whether you like it or not.

This also shows the problem of accountability in government. Four commissioners voted yes on this bonus. Only Becker voted no. There’s no competition to keep costs down. There’s no profit motive to run things efficiently. It’s just bureaucrats voting to give other bureaucrats more money.

What Critics Might Say

Supporters of the bonus might argue that you need to pay top dollar to attract good leadership. They might say the CEO’s salary needs to match what private hospital executives make. They could point to the hospital’s performance or budget numbers to justify the compensation.

But even if all that’s true, the timing here looks terrible. When you’re asking workers to take cuts, how do you justify giving the boss a quarter-million-dollar bonus?

What Happens Next

Becker’s lonely no vote won’t stop the bonus. The CEO will get his money. But her willingness to speak up might inspire other elected officials to ask harder questions about how taxpayer dollars get spent.

For conservatives who believe in limited government, stories like this are why we need more people like Becker in office. People who will actually say no when government spending gets out of hand.

What You Can Do

Pay attention to your local government meetings. Most people never watch them. When you do, you see exactly how your tax dollars get spent. Call or email your county commissioners. Let them know you’re watching. Ask them to explain votes like this one.

Support candidates who promise to watch taxpayer dollars carefully. And when election time comes around, remember who voted which way on issues like this.

This isn’t about being mean to anyone. It’s about fairness. It’s about making sure government serves the people who pay for it, not the people who run it.

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Brittany Sheehan is a Las Vegas-based mother, policy advocate and grassroots leader. She is active in local politics, successful in campaign work and passionate about liberty.