advertisement

Central DuPage Hospital offers $500,000 annual grant to Winfield

Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital is offering to give Winfield a $500,000 annual grant to resolve a financial dispute with the village.

For months, village officials have been saying the 380-bed hospital in downtown Winfield hasn't provided enough annual funding to compensate the cash-strapped municipality for all the services it provides.

CDH President Brian Lemon and Village President Erik Spande have had several one-on-one discussions since October trying to resolve the dispute. Unless a deal can be reached, Winfield officials plan to ask residents if the village should pursue methods to extract more money from one of the area's biggest hospitals.

On Tuesday, Lemon sent a letter to Spande proposing the $500,000 yearly grant "to support projects we mutually agree benefit the community while helping the village improve its economic health." The money would replace a $100,000 annual grant CDH already gives Winfield.

Lemon said he hopes the grant addresses Winfield's concerns and allows village and hospital officials to focus on other issues.

"There's things that we can and should be working on together with regard to economic development in the village," Lemon said. "This whole conversation, if you want to call it that, is getting in the way. We're spending all of our time on this. We're not spending time on constructive work together to move the village forward."

How many years Winfield would receive the money - and exactly how it could be spent - hasn't been determined.

"We're prepared to make it a multiyear commitment," Lemon said. "But first, we've got to have agreement about the number."

Winfield officials estimate the town spends more than $1 million a year on police, road maintenance and other services for the hospital - an amount CDH disputes.

Lemon said he believes $500,000 will "more than cover any direct costs that the village incurs" because of CDH. The figure is not negotiable, he said.

"We feel that we've pushed ourselves with this amount to a level that is fair and very generous," Lemon said. "I don't anticipate that we're going to be willing to change the amount."

He said he hopes village trustees will view the proposal "as a good offer" and take steps to sign a formal deal.

Trustees are expected to review the hospital's offer Thursday night during their regular board meeting.

"It certainly is the basis for additional conversation," Spande said of the proposal. "The objective in my mind is to find a middle ground where both parties can at least force a smile and say we can live with it."

But Spande pointed out that the $100,000 grant the village already receives comes with no strings attached.

"It just went into the general fund and the village could allocate it to roads or whatever the issue might be," he said.

If the hospital wants to tell the village how the $500,000 can and cannot be spent, Spande said, "that's an item of significant future concern."

If CDH's grant idea is accepted by village trustees, they are expected to repeal an advisory question slated to appear on the March 15 primary ballot.

The ballot question reads: "Should the Winfield Village Board, if the village becomes home rule through a subsequent binding referendum, begin to tax the operations of Central DuPage Hospital (which last year made net profit of $196 million and has billion dollar reserves) so that key Winfield services such as roads and police can be maintained and residential and business property taxes kept in check?"

Trustees instructed the village clerk to file the question with the county on Dec. 23 "unless formally directed otherwise before that date."

A village committee has reviewed ideas for Winfield to generate revenue from CDH even though CDH is a nonprofit hospital and isn't subject to taxes.

Revenue-generating ideas the committee considered include: establishing a fee for police service; establishing a parking fee; establishing an employers' expense tax; and establishing a hospital bed fee.

Erik Spande
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.