Editor,

In the upcoming election, the winning candidate for a seat on the Whidbey General Hospital board of commissioners will surely have to face the nasty job of dealing with sagging hospital finances.

As of February 2015, it was reported that the hospital operating loss was $4.6 million, and the loss for 2013 was more than $5.5 million.

Taxpayers should be outraged at this lack of fiscal discipline and accountability at our public hospital. The incumbent running for reelection, Georgia Gardner, stated in a recent forum that she is dedicated to the oversight of hospital finances.

Indeed.

With that kind of “dedication” it seems to me the hospital is in big trouble, and it’s time for some adult leadership.

Of the three candidates for the board, there’s one, Rob Born, who seems to understand that hospital commissioners have a serious fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers.

It’s time for a change, and the upcoming election will be the voters’ chance to make that change.

David Howe

Greenbank