Forest Park firefighters are calling for the village to find sources of new revenue amid a burnout crisis they say is putting residents in danger.
“You’re putting the community at risk,” said Travis Myers, a Forest Park firefighter, Local 2073 union president and pension board president, during public comment at a June 8 village council meeting.
He added: “When it comes to raising revenue, however we get to that, it will go a long way in helping the citizens get what they would expect from us. I really hope you consider now, and in the upcoming meetings, ways to build revenue through your places of eating tax, or anything that you can do, because it’s needed, incredibly needed.”
Village officials have always met in May at the start of the new fiscal year to review their budget line items for the next year before commissioners approve the village’s legal spending limits. In addition to that meeting, in 2024 when Rachell Entler officially became village administrator, she started hosting budget meetings centered on long-term costs and how to pay for them.
At the village’s first budget meeting of the year on May 18, officials reviewed new forms of revenue for the village. Ahead of the second budget meeting July 8, the Forest Park Fire Department continues to beg for the village to find new revenue sources for their overworked staff with incredibly underfunded pensions.
Myers also spoke during public comment at the first budget meeting of the year, when he said to commissioners, “This council is capable of bold action. I’m asking you to move fast on revenue solutions that matter now, not years from now.”
Myers added that in 2011, the Forest Park Fire Department responded to 2,953 calls. Last year, they responded to 4,742 calls with the same number of firefighters on staff.
“Nobody in this room intended to create a burnout crisis. Nobody intended for our firefighters to work unsustainable shifts or to watch good people leave for other departments, but here’s the thing about intent, it doesn’t answer a 3 a.m. call. The impact of decisions made over 20 years is real, and it’s happening right now,” Myers said at the budget meeting.
He added, “Here’s what keeps me up at night: It’s three in the morning, a paramedic’s been on shift since 7:45 yesterday morning, he’s been awake for nearly 20 hours, his ability to perform is compromised. Then a structure fire comes in, and we’re asking exhausted firefighters to save the lives when they haven’t had adequate rest. Your constituents deserve better. They deserve to know that when their worst day comes, we’re at our best, not running on empty.”
When firefighters aren’t rested, they’re more prone to injury, and that impacts the firefighters’ pension fund — which has a liability over $45 million and is less than 40% funded.
“On-duty injuries from exhaustion and stress aren’t just safety issues, they’re a financial crisis,” Myers said at the budget meeting. “Every disability claim for fatigue hits our pension fund. That’s a cost the village will carry for decades. We can prevent that now, or we can pay for it later when it’s much more expensive.”
With more calls than the Forest Park Fire Department can manage, the state’s Mutual Aid Box Alarm System makes it so that surrounding villages can come to help with emergency services in Forest Park.
“They’re covering our gaps because we don’t have the capacity. That means their residents wait longer,” Myers said at the June 8 council meeting. He added that Forest Park firefighters respond to mutual aid calls in other municipalities too, of which they received 70 of in May.
“When we’re relying on outside resources to come in here and serve our community, it puts a strain on us to respond properly” he said, “but also it puts a strain on the person that called when they’re there having a medical emergency or, God forbid, their home is on fire and we’re out of town, or we don’t have the equipment or the manpower to serve and take care of our community.”
New revenue options
Maria Maxham, commissioner of Accounts and Finance who also oversees the fire department, asked the council at the June 8 meeting to take Myers’ pleas to heart.
“I think it’s really important to hear the words of the actual people who are in, and leaders in, our fire department because they’re telling us that they feel at-risk mentally and physically. They’re saying they’re worried about their ability to perform as well as possible for themselves and for the residents,” Maxham said. “If we’re talking about finances, they’re saying, ‘Please find ways to help fix this.’”
Amid budget discussions about new revenue, Mayor Rory Hoskins has repeatedly mentioned that the village, starting next year, is estimated to receive over $1 million annually as reimbursement for emergency response services to the end of the CTA Blue Line and Green Line in Forest Park.
“It’s sort of been touted a little bit as a golden solution that’s going to fix everything, and it’s not going to fix everything,” Maxham said of the reimbursement. “Even if all of that money goes back to the first responders, it’s still not going to fix all the things that need fixing, and that’s the equipment, more staffing, higher salaries so that we can recruit and retain people to work for our departments.”
Maxham said the village needs to implement multiple solutions and requested that Hoskins, who creates the agendas for the twice-monthly council meetings, schedule a discussion for the June 22 village council meeting to confer on what the village could do for restaurants if they established a places of eating tax to bring in new revenue.
Maxham is bringing discussion to regular village council meetings after she told the Review that she thinks there should be at least one more budget meeting after next month’s.
“Two budget meetings are definitely enough to address the finances of a village ending another fiscal year millions of dollars in the hole in the general fund,” Maxham said sarcastically, “and with severely underfunded pensions. I am pushing for at least a third meeting, but responses from administration often take weeks.”
Underfunded and understaffed
Though the village has yet to total its deficit for the 2026 fiscal year, last year officials projected a $15 million deficit. The village has felt the burden of this deficit in its staffing.
At the village’s May 18 budget meeting, Finance Director Letitia Olmsted said village staff positions remain unfilled, so there’s a lot of overtime and comp time from staff taking on additional work.
At the same meeting, Village Administrator Rachell Entler said that for decades, whenever the village was “in a pinch,” it got rid of staff.
“I can certainly understand the need at this time, but as Director Olmstead stated earlier, the increased amount of work is now creating a workload to the staff that’s here that is not sustainable,” Entler said. “We’re going to need to talk about, whether it’s reorganizing staff, determining who’s needed, what’s needed, how we can make things more efficient.”
At the June 8 village council meeting, commissioners unanimously approved the hiring of a full-time accounts receivable clerk to fill a vacancy created by a resignation this month.
According to the meeting agenda, “This position is necessary to address an identified staffing need, maintain efficient financial operations, and ensure timely billing, collection and revenue management functions.”
At the same meeting, a resident spoke during public comment to ask about unexplained and unexpected fees associated with her parking tickets — and how confusing it’s been to pay them.
She said on May 20, she owed $475 in parking fines, including an extra $50 for late payment. By June 4, she owed $900. She tried to contact the village through email and phone and was asked to call back.
“Every effort has been made to work through the proper channels,” the resident said. “I’m not here to cause any conflict. I’m here because I’m seeking clarity, and I believe these fines warrant a closer look. I’m asking that my account be reviewed, that the fees be explained in full, and that a fair and workable solution be offered.”