Jersey City Police Department, New Jersey, 2009-2011

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Jersey City Police Department employee salaries are public records under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.

Salaries and benefits

Salaries

Sunshine Review filed a public records request seeking salary information on Jersey City Police Department employees, particularly for ranking officers and anyone earning over $150,000 annually. The department did not respond to the request.

In 2009, New Jersey police salaries ranked highest in nation, with median pay of $90,672.

Salary increases for career police officers can be substantial. As of September 24, 2009:

• Year 1 - $46,903.00
• Year 7 - $83,965.00
• Year 16 - $88,905.00
• Year 20 - $90,551.00
• Year 25 - $93,844.00

According to the job search aggregating website Indeed.com, the average salary for a police officer in Jersey City was $57,000 as of 2011.

Benefits

Sunshine Review filed a public records request seeking benefits information on Jersey City Police Department employees. The department did not respond to the request.

The Jersey City Police Department offers:

• Lifetime medical benefits
• Dental plan
• Prescription plan
• City life insurance
• Pension plan

• 65% of final salary for 25 years of service

• Uniform allowance
• Tuition reimbursement
• Optical plan
• Deferred compensation (457)

Car use

Sunshine Review filed a public records request seeking information on automobiles issued to Jersey City Police Department employees for 24-hour use. The department did not respond to the request.

Phone use

Sunshine Review filed a public records request seeking cellular and mobile phone information on Jersey City Police Department employees. The department did not respond to the request.

Salary records project

In 2011, Sunshine Review chose 152 local governments as the focus of research on public employee salaries. The editors of Sunshine Review selected eight states with relevant political contexts (listed alphabetically):

1. California
2. Florida
3. Illinois
4. Michigan
5. New Jersey
6. Pennsylvania
7. Texas
8. Wisconsin

Within these states, the editors of Sunshine Review focused on the most populous cities, counties and school districts, as well as the emergency services entities within these governments. The purpose of this selection method was to develop articles on governments affecting the most citizens.

The salary information garnered from these states were a combination of existing online resources and state Freedom of Information Act requests sent out to the governments.

A study published by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia said the city of Philadelphia faced challenges owing to the cost of public employee pensions. The report claimed the amount that Philadelphia paid to pension recipients limited the city’s ability to use its budget effectively.

The report said there were more individuals receiving pension benefits—33,907 claimants in 2006—than workers in the city—28,701. The authors recommended three steps towards addressing the problem of high costs in pensions: improved data collection, expanded transparency initiatives, and reductions to the city's overall budget.

Salary schedules can be published as ranges, not as specific compensation figures, and may leave out compensation received through health and retirement benefits, as well as benefits such as commuter allowances and cell phone reimbursements. This project aimed to close the gap and provide a more accurate picture of public employee salaries for the sake of public education and transparency.

See also

• Public employee salaries

External links

• N.J. police and firefighter salary cap proposed in Trenton, New Jersey Newsroom, November 23, 2010
• State Budget Solutions -- New Jersey