Qualifying UMC Employees Get Raises After County Grants Hospital’s Tax Hike

The chairman of the University Medical Center’s board, Dr. Jose Luna, said all qualifying hospital employees received a raise this year.

“We want to be the best hospital in El Paso and to do that, we have to pay competitive wages,” said Luna.

A few months ago UMC’s finances were in critical condition. State and federal budget cuts eliminated more than $20 million from the county hospital’s budget. Administrators asked county commissioners for help in the form of a property tax hike, which was approved in late September.

The increase in the El Paso County Hospital District tax rate amounted to a bit more than $11 per year for a home valued at $100,000.

“These little increments will help us expand clinics, expand services and provide better services so in the long run we can improve the care for all of El Paso,” said Luna.

Luna said part of those improvements involve ensuring good UMC employees are not lured away by other facilities. “It’s a very competitive market out there and the board of managers decided we really had to at least compensate our better employees.”

Last year none of UMC’s staff received a raise, according to Luna. Now all employees who did well on their annual evaluations got a bump in their salary.

“It’s based on performance. Some people got a zero (percent increase), some people may have gotten a little bit more. On average it was about a 1.5 percent (increase), right in the middle,” said Luna.

UMC’S Chief Executive Officer Jim Valenti was one of the employees who received a 1.5 percent raise for meeting his goals, which increased his annual base salary to about $430,580.

UMC watchdog Mike Rooney told ABC-7 he can see the reasoning behind Valenti’s raise. “(Valenti) is a multi-hatted chief executive,” said Rooney.

However, Rooney added the hospital itself could still work on its finances.

“The main thing, which they’re working on, is getting the collections from people who come to UMC (for treatment),” said Rooney.

According to a UMC spokeswoman, $59 million out of the hospital’s $443 million total operating expenses come out of county taxpayer dollars.