Park Ridge council approves updated payment agreement with Advocate Lutheran General Hospital

The Park Ridge City Council approved an updated financial support agreement with Advocate Lutheran General Hospital on April 6, voting 7–0 to renew the long‑running arrangement intended to offset lost parking tax revenue.

City Manager Joe Gilmore told the council the agreement dates to 2010, when the hospital stopped charging for parking and the city began receiving payments to compensate for that lost revenue. For the renewal before the council he said the three‑year term would include a 2.75% annual increase and that the formula used to recalculate the annual payment was adjusted from a 5% indexing factor to 4%.

Why it matters: the contract compensates the city for parking revenue the municipality otherwise would collect. Gilmore said staff and legal have negotiated the update and that the changes otherwise "clean up the agreement," including a clarification the hospital corrected after an audit reduced the number of parking spaces previously reported.

Council members asked a single technical question about why the number of parking spaces in the agreement decreased; Gilmore said the hospital audited its campus and corrected an earlier error in the reported count, and that the change did not alter the annual dollar amount under the updated agreement.

No members of the public spoke during the council comment period on this item. The ordinance/contract renewal was moved for approval, seconded, and passed on roll call 7–0.

The agreement will take effect according to the dates described in the city manager’s presentation and will be administered by city finance staff. City officials said they are available to answer any additional technical questions about the contract’s formula or implementation.

The council then moved on to other business.