On Tuesday, voters in San Francisco will decide whether to lower the age at which firefighters in the city are eligible for retirement benefits.
As firefighter Harry Higgins returns to San Francisco for his 24-hour shift, he knows he is about to be exposed to toxins and dangers. It’s all part of the job.
But he has become increasingly aware of the severity of the exposure he receives on every shift.
“Firefighters are typically diagnosed with cancer after the age of 50. If that’s the case, I think those years are so impactful,” Higgins told CBS News Bay Area.
Nearly a quarter century into his career, he has seen his fellow firefighters succumb to diseases, including cancer, often linked to exposure in the field. That’s why he hopes that the retirement age for his colleagues will be lowered from 58 to 55, as proposed in a ballot proposal in San Francisco.
“I want to believe that taking the extra steps like going to bed on time and eating nutrient-dense foods will make a difference, but I don’t know. I don’t know,” Higgins explained. “And that’s where 55 matters. 55 is important because the sooner you can get away from what we know is harmful, the sooner we know we are in a place where we can thrive and start living again. healthy.”
A healthy lifestyle outside of work is the only thing he can control. It’s a goal he’s been working toward 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 environment. Well, my environment right now is this, you know? Whether it’s a fire or something, I just don’t know. And that’s the scary part.”
At age 46, he is less than ten years away from being eligible for retirement at age 55. But that’s not the case for others who joined after 2012 and will have to wait until age 58 to receive their pensions after the union’s contract was renegotiated in 2012.
That’s what Proposition H hopes to change. Union President Floyd Rollins says the goal is to level the field for all firefighters who are more susceptible to illness as they age.
“We must do everything we can to continue the prevention efforts and continue the investigations regarding, for example, our turnouts, where we discovered that there were forever cancer-causing chemicals in the highly protective gear that we wear. Rollins explained.
But it’s a numbers game that worries some financial experts, who say lowering the retirement age puts the financial burden back on taxpayers.
“If more firefighters retire early than the city thinks, the city will have to intervene more. And so it’s that uncertainty that’s going to be burdened on taxpayers. Ultimately, it’s San Francisco’s taxpayers who will have to do it. to pay for it,” explains Joshua Rauh, professor of finance at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Rauh conducts research into government finances and the consequences for pensions. He says the estimated cost of lowering the retirement age will increase over time as more firefighters retire.
“Firefighters who would otherwise have worked longer, working until the age of 58, actually retire at the age of 55. because of course they received these benefits three years earlier,” Rauh said. “The controller has estimated that these costs will start at approximately $3.7 million per year and will increase somewhat over time.”
