CDH & Winfield’s Road Referendum

The State of Illinois seems to be scrutinizing not for profit hospitals. While this is very interesting it’s not a silver bullet for solving Winfield’s revenue issues.

See if you are with me on this. Let’s suppose that CDH’s facilities are worth 500 Million Dollars. The property taxes on that parcel of land will be worth 10 Million. The part the village receives would be 3% of that, which is $300,000. It’s better than a sharp stick in the eye but it isn’t the $705 Thousand per year we need for road maintenance and it isn’t the $3.3 Million we need for reconstructive work on the roads that are wrecked beyond compare.

If CDH’s tax exempt status were to change, it wouldn’t be without a fight from CDH and their lawyers. So you are looking at 6 to 10 years before Winfield sees a dime. In fact, if you can see exactly what CDH would be willing to budget for the lawyer expenses by looking at the above calculations. They would be able to spend $10 Million fighting per year and if they eventually lost the case they would still have broken even.

Bottom line is, it is irresponsible to put all Winfield’s revenue generating eggs in one basket. To be responsible, we need a mix of residential, commercial and sales taxes to properly fund village operations. Praying that CDH or their questionable tax status is going to solve Winfield’s revenue problems is a foolish delay in doing the heavy lifting that needs to be done to get this village fiscally solvent again.

CDH and the 7 Stages of Grief

Central DuPage Hospital (CDH) is one of the premier hospitals in the world. Think about that for a second: we have one of the best, most talented groups of medical professionals in the world in our town. But if you showed up to a town hall meeting you could be sure to hear griping and grousing that CDH is not “…paying their fair share…” especially when there are town bills to be paid and the Winfield residents do not want their taxes raised.

But to the contrary, CDH does pay their fair share.  The fact is CDH pays about $500,000 per year in property taxes on the parts of their operation that are for profit. They also pay sales taxes and in 2008 pledged to donate $100,000 per year for the next three years to hyper-local Winfield charities. CDH donated $47 million in free health care to hospital patrons that could not afford to pay in just this last year. They also do plenty of other things too, but that is an editorial for a different day. The fact remains CDH is classified as a non-profit hospital and for approximately the last 100 years not-for-profit hospitals have been property tax exempt. This is a cold hard reality and much like you, my dear reader, they do not have to give a penny more than what is decreed by State of Illinois law. For some, the obvious wealth of the hospital is distracting; like a magpie with a shiny piece of tinsel, every other magpie wants some too.

I was recently at the Winfield Town Hall meeting on February 27th to talk about the road referendum which is up for a vote this November. The usual suspects had the usual complaints about CDH; that CDH was not paying their share of the road repairs. Curt Barrett, the Village Manager did an excellent job explaining for what I believe was the first time ever uttered at any town meeting, the hospital is doing everything it has to, up to, and exceeding the call of duty as laid forth by Illinois Statute. He also mentioned very diplomatically while the hospital may use Winfield, Highlake and Jewel Roads, it would be laughable to expect them to foot any of the bill for our crumbling residential streets.  If you were at the meeting and saw the map displaying the roads in need of repair, the $3.3 Million road referendum and the $705,000 per year we need extra is exclusively for residential streets.

I liken what Winfield residents feel to the seven stages of the Kubler – Ross grief cycle; Stage 1: Shock, Stage 2: Denial, Stage 3: Anger, Stage 4: Bargaining, Stage 5: Depression, Stage 6: Testing, and Stage 7: Acceptance.  We are in shock, we are faced with a daunting bill for roads and an increase in taxes (Stage 1). We deny the taxes required to be paid by CDH are limited by State Statute (Stage 2). We are angry and maybe a bit jealous of their obvious wealth (Stage 3). We have sent a litany of politicians knocking on their door to bargain for money (Stage 4). Over time, the facts about our roads, the costs, and how we arrived at this juncture in Winfield history will bring depression (Stage 5).

But take heart! If we can bring ourselves to come to accept CDH is not our town’s personal sugar-daddy we can explore and test opportunities for sustainable revenue generation (Stage 6). Winfield has assets that are as yet untapped. We have parcels of land that can be developed and we have the natural beauty of being surrounded by Forest Preserve Districts and walking trails.

With a little vision we can deliver on the promise that Winfield holds. Consider Winfield blessed we are not trust-fund babies living on a revenue stream gleaned from someone else’s hard work. Our seventh stage is the acceptance we need to rely on ourselves, our assets, and our own ingenuity to claw our way back to fiscal health. Winfield needs to take ownership of our village’s problems not pawn them off on our most promising industry. At the end of this ordeal we will find our village stronger because of it.