Three hospitals in Illinois are seeking state tax refunds totaling nearly $10 million, reported Crain's Chicago Business. The hospitals include Edward Hospital & Health Services, Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital and Decatur Memorial Hospital.
The taxes were levied during a period when the hospitals' management battled with regulators over their nonprofit status.
But last summer, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law new legislation for charity care and tax-exemptions that clarified which facilities qualify for tax-exempt status. All three facilities have since obtained tax exemptions.
"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," CEO Rick Mace said Wednesday in a memo to the board of directors of Adventist Bolingbrook, part of Adventist Health Midwest, according to Crain's Chicago Business.
Adventist Bolingbrook is seeking by far the largest refund: $7.1 million. Decatur Memorial is seeking $1.6 million in refunds, while Edward is looking to recover about $1 million.
However, recipients of the hospitals' tax largesse, such as Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202, said they may have trouble making repayments, according to the article.
For more:
- read the Crain's Chicago Business article