The Oak Park Village Board unanimously approved a deal to collect an estimated $60,500 a year from the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). The money reimburses police and fire responses at local Blue and Green Line stations.

The board passed Resolution 26-293 at its Tuesday, Sept. 29 meeting, making Oak Park the last of four suburbs to join the pact, as first reported by the Wednesday Journal. River Forest, Forest Park and Rosemont had already signed on.

Under the agreement, the CTA will reimburse municipalities per call: $3,000 for an EMS transport, $500 for a fire response without transport, $75 per patrol officer, $85 per sergeant and $30 per auxiliary officer. The agreement also provides Oak Park a rate of $82.82 per hour for each pair of civilian alternative first responders.

Fire Chief JT Terry said police and fire officials from the four communities had been meeting since February 2026 to develop a unified fee structure. Terry estimated the annual revenue at roughly $60,500, based on a July sample of 34 calls with a mix of transports and response-only incidents.

"We started looking to see if our fee structure was fair, looking at our responses and coming up with one [intergovernmental agreement] we could take to the CTA for unity and to make sure we are all operating on the same page," Terry said.

Village Chief Financial Officer Kevin Bueso said the money has not been built into the 2027 budget because the exact amount remains unknown. The plan is for reimbursement funds to enter the general fund on a restricted basis while the village evaluates each department's needs.

Bueso said the village will monitor the revenue through 2027 before deciding whether to fold it into the operating budget as a sustainable source. That wait-and-see approach is deliberate.

The agreement was made possible after the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) replaced the Regional Transportation Authority in June 2025, bringing $1.5 billion in new public transit funding, the Forest Park Review reported.

Forest Park's fire department responded to more than 600 CTA station calls in 2025 and estimated its own annual reimbursement at over $1 million. Oak Park's call volume is lower, which accounts for the smaller projected payout.

Each municipality must submit documentation of qualifying calls to that year's Invoice Coordinator by Jan. 8. A joint invoice goes to the CTA by Jan. 15, with reimbursements arriving in February. The Oak Park Fire Department will serve as Invoice Coordinator for 2027.