Last year, the Forest Park Fire Department made over 600 calls to CTA stations. In future years, the village could be reimbursed over $1 million for responding to those calls.
A new intergovernmental agreement passed at the Sept. 14 council meeting allows for the Chicago Transit Authority to reimburse the village for its emergency response calls to three CTA Blue Line and Green Line stops in Forest Park.
The agreement allows the CTA to reimburse Forest Park $3,000 per EMS transport, $500 per fire department response with no transportation and $75 per police patrol officer response.
Last year, 625 of the fire department’s 4,742 calls were to either the Blue Line Harlem stop, the Blue Line terminus, or the Green Line terminus at Harlem. And 275 of those calls were taken to either Aperion Care or Riveredge Hospital by EMS. That would be an $825,000 reimbursement for EMS transport and at least another $175,000 for fire response.
To be reimbursed, Forest Park — along with Oak Park, River Forest and Rosemont — must submit an itemized billing statement of fire, police or emergency medical technicians to CTA Blue or Green Line stops by Jan. 15 of each year, according to the resolution.
“This intergovernmental agreement has a substantial impact on the village. …This is an important day” Commissioner Michelle Melin-Rogovin said at the meeting. “So many of us went to Springfield so much and met with our legislators in town and our Cook County officials to make this happen. When we talk about how important it is to go to Springfield, this is what it means.”
“I want to echo that and just acknowledge the persistent advocacy of Mayor [Rory] Hoskins and Fire Chief [Lindsey] Hankus for this reimbursement program. Administrator [Rachell] Entler, Commissioner Melin-Rogovin and I also went down to Springfield over several years, different trips, to advocate in support of our first responders,” Commissioner Jessica Voogd said.
But the reimbursement money doesn’t reduce the number of calls.
In 2025, the fire department’s 4,742 calls were about 250 more than in 2024 — and the highest in the department’s history.
“The financial reimbursement is incredibly important to cover the costs associated with the high volume of calls, but it doesn’t directly address the toll that those calls take on our first responders, their physical and mental well-being,” Voogd added. “Hopefully this is a catalyst to potentially trigger some change to help address those issues as well.”
The reimbursement agreement comes after the Northern Illinois Transit Authority replaced the Regional Transportation Authority in June to oversee the CTA, Metra and Pace. The NITA Act adds $1.5 billion of funding to area public transit and will create a law enforcement task force comprised of the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, Chicago Police Department, Metra police, Illinois State Police and suburban police departments.