Business and licensing fees are rising in Forest Park, along with the cost of ambulance services.
At the Jan. 27 village council meeting, commissioners unanimously passed an ordinance amending sections of the code that hike fees for business owners and ambulance riders.
The business and licensing fees are being updated for the first time in more than 17 years, according to Village Clerk Vanessa Belmonte.
This increased cost for business owners was brought up last year in a series of meetings to discuss the budget for the 2025 fiscal year.
In addition to increased fees, the amended ordinance includes a non-refundable application fee of $50 and eliminates the prorated fee for the first year of a license. For those who don’t have to obtain a license –state licensing rules exempts doctors, real estate agents and others – the village will institute a $50 annual registration fee.
The following businesses will see a business license cost up from $100 to $250: Barber and beauty shops, brokers, druggists, excavators, florists, grocery stores and markets, landscapers, laundry services, nurseries, pawnbrokers, printers and publishers, and retail stores.
Other increases include a change in annual license and permit fees for the following types of businesses:
- Advertisers, outdoors – from $50 to $250
- Auctioneers – from $300 to $1,000 per year, and from $60 to $500 per day
- Accessories, tires and body repair auto shops – from $125 to $300
- Car sales establishments – from $250 to $1,000
- Billiard halls – from $150 to $200 per table
- Boiler and heating dealers – from $50 to $200
- Bowling alleys – from $25 to $50 per alley
- Contractors – from $100 to $200
- Financial institutions – from $125 to $500
- Outdoor dining locations – from $125 to $165
- Restaurants – from $100 to $500
- Supermarkets – from $300 to $500 if under 10,000 square feet, and from $450 to $1,000 if over 10,000 square feet
- Gas stations – from $100 to $500
- Hardware stores – from $125 to $250
- Hotels – from $1 per bedroom to $100
- Lumber yards – from $300 to $500
- Mall businesses – from $50 to $250 for 1,000 square feet
- Mall carts – from $25 to $100 for 30 days
- Manufacturers – from $125 to $1,000
- Massage establishments – from $100 to $300
- Nursing homes – from $300 to $1,000
- Office supply stores – from $125 to $250
- Parking garages – from $3 to $10 per space for less than 25 spaces, or from $75 to $250 per space for over 25 spaces
- Storage centers – from $125 to $350
- Undertakers – from $150 to $250
- Veterinary hospitals – from $125 to $500
- Wholesale meat distributors – from $125 to $250
Businesses that were added to the village code, and their new annual license fees, include:
- Alarm company registrations – $50
- Cannabis dispensaries – $2,000
- Drive-through establishments – $500
- Long-term nursing homes – $1,000
- Massage therapists – $100
- Towing companies and storage lots – $250
Ambulance cost
Another portion of the amended ordinance aims to reduce an unintentional decrease in revenue from ambulance services.
Fiscal year 2024’s average cost per ambulance transport was $1,841. This is about a 30% decrease from the previous year.
According to Fire Chief Lindsey Hankus, the main factor of this decrease was a rise in the number for transports between fiscal year 2023, when 1,463 ambulance trips were taken, and fiscal year 2024 with 1,992 trips. Medicaid fee-for-service trips increased from 522 in the 2023 fiscal year to 807 trips in the 2024 fiscal year.
In a letter ahead of the last village council meeting, Hankus recommended changing the ordinance to include language that says, in cases where the Forest Park Fire Department’s Ground Emergency Medical Transportation cost report has a reduced service fee, the ambulance fees will default to the previous year’s rate to avoid revenue losses. She also suggests updating the ordinance to reflect current service costs.
This includes increasing basic life support inside a village ambulance from $1,712 to $2,636. With the signed approved ordinance, advanced life support will increase from $1,922 to $2,636.