Commonwealth Court Judge Joseph McCloskey rejected the referendum on Wednesday _ less than two weeks before the Nov. 2 election _ saying that the petitions that 24,000 city residents signed were unclear.
Josh Bloom, an attorney for the firefighter's union, said the union would likely appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. If that fails, Bloom said, the union would try to get the referendum on the spring primary ballot.
The referendum would require the first fire vehicle to get to a scene within four minutes and a second four minutes later. After the petitions were submitted, lawyers for the Allegheny County Elections Division amended it to say that the proposal would change the city's home rule charter, and they also deleted a passage saying the standard was needed to ``maintain adequate health and safety for all residents, including seniors, children and adults in the city.''
Mayor Tom Murphy and other city officials argued that the referendum was invalid because voters who signed the petitions didn't know the referendum would revise the city's home rule charter. Murphy's law department also said the ordinance illegally limited the mayor's power.
The standard, if approved by voters, could be used to block Pittsburgh's plans to cut 168 of 816 firefighter positions and close seven of its 35 fire stations as part of the city's recovery plan approved in June by Mayor Tom Murphy and the City Council.
The plan calls for $33 million in spending cuts along with $41 million in tax increases to bridge a projected $72 million budget shortfall in 2005.
The Murphy administration has said the city's Fire Bureau is bloated and the cuts won't endanger residents. While Pittsburgh has 35 stations, the national median for comparable cities is 20, and it has 33 pumper trucks, while the median is 20 trucks, the mayor's office said.
