Firefighters Fight for Pensions; Budget Battle in Ohio; How Budget Cuts Could Affect You
MALVEAUX: Here's what's ahead "On the Rundown." Times are so tough in Pittsburgh, that firefighters could lose their pensions. Also, an anti-gay church gets the OK to protest at military funerals. And the father of a fallen Marine, he's got a lot to say about that. And also, sex gets a college basketball star kicked off his team. And it is a problem that is playing out across the country -- cities and states with tight budgets and huge obligations. Leaders in Pittsburgh say that the city faces financial Armageddon. But CNN's Jim Acosta reports that firefighters are battling to keep their pensions.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fiscal house is on fire in Pittsburgh. Unless the city can get a handle on its out- of-control pension costs for its firefighters and other public workers, local leaders have said they are facing financial Armageddon. (on camera): Is that overstating it?</s>MAYOR LUKE RAVENSTAHL (D), PITTSBURGH: Well, I think we're headed that way. The reality is --</s>ACOSTA: You're heading towards Armageddon?</s>RAVENSTAHL: We'll, we're heading towards very difficult scenarios.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Pittsburgh cannot meet its obligations to its pension system to the tune of $700 million. This in the city that already spends 50 cents of every dollar on pension, health care cost and debt. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, a Democrat who grew up in a union family, blames his city's labor agreements.</s>RAVENSTAHL: Things have to change.</s>COSTA: The city's firefighters and police can retire at age 50, after 20 years of service, landing a pension equal the half of their take home pay. Firefighters can even boost their pensions by working more overtime in the last three years on duty. A practice called pension spiking. (on camera): Is that fair?</s>RAVENSTAHL: It's not. And we've brought it up to the fire union. They're aware of it. Of course, they push back.</s>ACOSTA: Usually, pension spiking does not go on?</s>ROBERT COX, BATTALION CHIEF: Not in this bureau. I'm not sure how it does in other cities. But in this way, our overtime is distributed. It's an even rotating list.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Firefighters deny their engaging in pension spiking. They blame city hall.</s>WILLIAM GILCHREST, PITTSBURGH FIREFIGHTER ENGINE 17: Because of fiscal mismanagement of the cities, the governments and things, the working man shouldn't have to suffer for that.</s>ACOSTA: Ralph Sicuro, with the local firefighters union, is open to raising the retirement age but says this no job for senior citizens.</s>RALPH SICURO, INTERNATIONAL FIREFIGHTERS UNION REP.: So, what am I supposed to do with somebody that reaches the age of 65 and they want you now to work until your 70. What do I tell them? They can't -- they can't get up on the rig anymore.</s>ACOSTA: The mayor warns the pension system needs more than tweaks.</s>RAVENSTAHL: If I had my way, we would be able to offer 401(k) plans to city officials and government officials.</s>MALVEAUX: Our own Jim Acosta, he joins us live from Pittsburgh. Hey, Jim. You reported that the city, right, is blaming some of the unions, and the unions are blaming the city managers. I imagine it's not that simple.</s>ACOSTA: Right. Well, it isn't that simple. I mean, the math is really the problem here. Both sides agree that the math is the problem. If they don't get a handle on these financial problems, they are going to be forced into some painful choices. The pension system that exists in Pittsburgh is worked out really between the unions and the state legislature. So the mayor here is really being held hostage to that agreement. And so unless he can get some kind of concessions between the state and the unions, there is not a whole lot he can do besides, perhaps, raising taxes or cutting deeply into the local budget here. That's something that he doesn't want to do. And as for that idea of bringing in a 401(k) plan, that's something that he would love to do here in Pittsburgh, but he would need the state to agree to that and the unions to agree to that. So, not a whole lot of options here, but certainly some very tough numbers facing the city down the road.</s>MALVEAUX: Some tough choices. OK. Thank you, Jim. Now to the budget battle in Ohio. The state Senate approves a bill that would curb collective bargaining rights for public workers, but it would also strip away their power to strike.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Nays. The bill is passed and entitled.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shame!</s>UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: shame, shame.</s>MALVEAUX: Democrats called the measure a union-busting bill. Republican supporters say it's necessary for the state to move forward towards financial reform. The bill now goes to the state House. And education, social services, there are just some of the areas that governments are cutting to deal with these budget shortfalls. Our CNN's Carl Azuz who is looking at the budget cuts. They're hitting different programs. And, tell us, I mean, a lot of people are suffering but essentially, you've got some specifics on what's on the chopping block.</s>CARL AZUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do. A couple things I've learned, Suzanne, in gathering this information is nothing is really guaranteed to stick around. I mean, these cuts are diverse, these proposals could affect many, many people and the other thing I learned is, these are not the decisions that governors, that state and local leaders want to have to make. Take for instance what's already happened in Arizona. People who are on a state health care plan would lose their ability to get certain organ transplants. They could get those transplants but the state plan would not pay for them. So, for example, bone marrow transplants, some people are affected by that. They don't have the money and the plan will no longer cover it. We're going to move on to Illinois now. Certain substance abuse programs could be on the chopping block because their Department of Human Services budget is being reduced. That could be something that happens down the line. South Carolina, they're looking to eliminate $125 million to doctors and hospitals. Now, that's a proposal. There's a statute in place that prevents that money from being cut. That statute might have to be moved out of the way first . Texas, foster care assistance. Those foster homes, they get kickbacks from the state, they're reimbursed by the state, I should say. And that assistance could be eliminated putting a strain on those homes. The Department of Corrections in Florida, if a lot of prison inmates are moved to county jails, that could put a strain on county jails. And then coast to coast something we're seeing, not specific to any one state, it's from New York to California, police force cutbacks, in some places like Camden, New Jersey, there's a proposal to eliminate the police force by 50 percent.</s>MALVEAUX: Carl, I don't understand that. If the police forces are eliminated, who protects -- who does law enforcement?</s>AZUZ: And this is where some areas are getting creative, they're asking for volunteers. Now those volunteers might be doing anything from basic police paperwork. But in Mesa, Arizona, we're seeing these volunteers. They're processing crime seasons, dusting for fingerprints, swabbing for DNA in some spots. Really sorts of depends on the need. But these are unpaid folks, people who are retirees, in some cases they're students and in some cases they're good Samaritans kind of pitching in to help. And in some cases work like security officers, Suzanne. They'll be on patrol but they don't have weapons. If they see something serious happen, they'll call the police in.</s>MALVEAUX: Wow. Unbelievable. It's just one of the many creative solutions that states are trying to come up, huh?</s>AZUZ: That's one. One other one I saw was to bring in prisoners to do more labor intensive jobs. I mean, we've seen prisoners a lot of times cleaning up road sides, doing some basic jobs like that, community work. But now there are some places that are looking to bring in prisoners to paint state vehicles or local vehicles, for instance, to clean up courthouses, to do some of the jobs that private contractors used to do. Of course, the downside to this, according to a criminal justice professor, is that only around 20 percent, he estimates, of prisoners are of low enough security risk to be brought in to do broader work. So if you have only 20 percent of the workforce, that workforce would be limited as well.</s>MALVEAUX: Wow. All right, Carl, thanks. Obviously there's bad news but some creative solutions, things that people have to do to get those budgets under control.</s>AZUZ: Exactly right. We're all having to get creative.</s>MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Carl.</s>AZUZ: Thank you, Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: Well, don't forget to Choose the News. It is not too late. Vote by texting 22360 for the story you that want to see in detail. So, vote one for the story about Egyptian evacuees leaving the conflict in Libya, trying to get home. Two, for the story about a powerful documentary that asks if we are pushing our kids too far. Or, three, for the story about a puppy that survived being put to sleep. The winning story is going to air in the next hour. Ever wonder how many posts a day are logged on Twitter? Well, according to folks over at deathandtaxesmagazine.com, it's 50 million. So they wondered, if you sat down, read every tweet that crossed in 24 hours, how long would it take you? Twenty-four hours, 24 months, five years or 10 years? Here's a hint. We're talking 330 million seconds worth of Twitter reading material.