On Tuesday, San Francisco voters will decide whether to lower the age that city firefighters become eligible for pension benefits.
As firefighter Harry Higgins returns to San Francisco for his 24-hour shift, he knows he’s about to be exposed to toxins and hazards. It’s all part of the job.
But he’s grown increasingly aware of the severity of that exposure he takes with each shift.
“Firefighters are typically diagnosed with cancer after the age of 50. That being the case, I feel, you know, that makes these years so impactful,” Higgins told CBS News Bay Area.
Nearly a quarter century into working the job, he’s seen his fellow firefighters succumb to diseases including cancer that are often linked to exposures in the field. That’s why he’s hoping the pension eligibility age for his colleagues will be decreased from age 58 to 55 as proposed in a San Francisco ballot proposition.
“I want to believe that taking the extra measures, like going to bed on time, eating nutritionally dense food, are going to make a difference, but I don’t know. I don’t know,” Higgins explained. “And that’s where 55 matters. 55 matters because the sooner you can get away from what we know is harmful, the sooner we know we’re in a place where we’re able to thrive, we’re able to get back to living healthy.”
A healthy lifestyle outside of the job is all that’s in his control. It’s a goal he’s worked towards since being diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2001.
“I don’t see myself as a victim,” Higgins explained. “I was told [it was] genetics or environmental. Well, my environment at this time is this, you know? Whether it’s fires or that, I just don’t know. And that’s the scary part.”
At 46, he’s less than ten years away from being eligible for his pension at age 55. But that’s not the case for others who joined after 2012 and must wait until age 58 to receive their pension after the union’s contract was renegotiated in 2012.
That’s what Proposition H is hoping to change. Union President Floyd Rollins says it’s to equalize the field for all firefighters who are more prone to diseases as they age.
“We need to do any and everything that we can to continue the prevention efforts to continue the studies with regard to, for instance, our turnouts, where we found out that there were cancer causing forever chemicals in the very protective gear that we wear,” Rollins explained.
But it’s a numbers game that concerns some financial experts who say that lowering a pension eligibility age puts the financial burden back on taxpayers.
“If more firefighters take that early retirement than the city thinks, the city is going to have to kick in more. And so, it’s that uncertainty that’s going to get loaded on to taxpayers. Ultimately, it’s the taxpayers of San Francisco who will have to pay for it,” explained Joshua Rauh, a professor of finance at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Rauh studies public finances and pension impacts. He says the estimated costs of lowering the pension age will increase over time as more firefighters retire.
“Firefighters who otherwise would have worked longer, worked until they’re 58 are going to actually retire at the age of 55 and what that would do is it means that the cost of providing them with the lifetime benefits that they receive from the city goes up because, of course, they’re receiving those benefits three years earlier,” said Rauh. “The controller has estimated those costs to begin at around $3.7 million per year and to increase somewhat over time.”
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