LYNNWOOD — The state Auditor’s Office says the Verdant Health Commission has exceeded its statutory authority by spending more than $82,000 last year on three programs — swim lessons, bicycle safety and smoke alarms.
“These programs support safety and recreational activity and do not provide hospital or health care services,” the state agency said in a recent management letter.
The letter recommends that Verdant should work with its legal counsel and other resources to evaluate all current and future program investments “to ensure public resources are spent only on purchases and services that are within its authority.”
The auditor’s office reviews the operations and finances of government agencies.
The three programs questioned by the auditor’s office were among the $6.2 million the commission spent last year on a variety of health-promotion programs.
The swim lessons and water safety programs were offered in Edmonds, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace, and cost $45,484.
A bicycle safety program, which cost $32,000, was offered to local students in the sixth through eighth grades.
And a program to promote and install smoke alarms and help residents develop fire escape plans cost $5,000.
Robin Fenn, Verdant’s superintendent, said that the organization’s attorney believes that the programs selected for grant money support the health needs of people living in the hospital district. Its boundaries include much of south Snohomish County, including the cities of Brier, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, Woodway and surrounding unincorporated areas.
The state law outlining the duties of public hospital districts was written in the 1940s.
It allows hospital districts to provide other health services as appropriate to the health needs of the community, but it doesn’t define what those are, she said.
No changes are planned this year in the programs the commission funds, she said.
“We’ll continue to work with the auditor’s office,” Fenn said.
“There’s no animosity here,” she said. “It’s very much a collaboration.”
The Lynnwood-based Verdant Health Commission is an outgrowth of the former Stevens Hospital in Edmonds. The hospital, now called Swedish Edmonds, became part of Swedish Health Services in 2010.
The hospital district, which has taxing authority and five elected board members, changed its mission from overseeing the hospital to paying for programs to improve the health of south Snohomish County communities.
It is thought to be the only public hospital district in the state that operates in this fashion.
Much of the money for its health promotion programs comes from lease payments made by Swedish to the hospital district since it took over the hospital’s management. Last year that totaled $8.43 million, said Verdant spokeswoman Jennifer Piplic.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
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