Schools

Valley View Has 4 Years to Pay Back $4.9 Million to Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital

Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital has asked for $7 million back from Will County taxing bodies since the hospital meets new state standards for tax-exempt status, officials said.

Valley View School District 365U has four years to pay back $4.9 million to Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, now that the nonprofit hospital has tax-exempt status from the state of Illinois.

Officials from each organization have agreed upon a four-year payment plan to complete the tax refund. That plan was approved unanimously by the Valley View school board last month. 

The plan dictates Valley View will pay Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital about $1.2 million on Dec. 31 of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. 

Under state law, the district had three years to repay three years worth of property taxes. Valley View requested and received a fourth year to do so. The $4,871,646.95 amount represents taxes Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital paid "under protest" from 2008 to 2010. 

The two hospital parcels given tax-exempt status are the main hospital and the Professional Building, which received an 85 percent exemption status, according to Gary Grizaffi, assistant superintendent of administrative services for Valley View.

"It has been a cooperative effort to date," Grizaffi wrote in a board document. "The hospital has expressed that it recognizes the difficult situation this puts the district in, and apologized that it took over five years for the courts to issue a final ruling."

Grizaffi previously told the school board the refund would impact the district "pretty heavily" and would leave Valley View "high and dry."

Last year, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation to clarify property tax exemptions for hospitals. Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital "not only met, but far exceeded" the new requirements, Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital CEO Rick Mace wrote in a letter to the hospital's board of directors.  

"We believed that in our situation, the morally right decision was to pay our taxes, under protest, to Will County in full, letting the county know we were certain the hospital would be recognized as deserving tax-exempt status," Mace wrote. "We fully expected to receive a refund of our tax payment."

There is "small solace," Grizaffi said at a board meeting, in that Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital is waiving a 6 percent interest rate on the $4.9 million. 

Will County taxing bodies owe the hospital a total of $7 million.


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