Middlesex County Sheriff's Office, New Jersey, 2009-2011

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Middlesex County Sheriff's Office employee salaries are public records under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.

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

In February 2011, the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office began a restructuring that officials said would save about $86,600 annually. Two new appointees were paid a combined $187,220 in salary and benefits, while the pair they replaced were paid $273,800 in salary and benefits.

Salaries

Middlesex County Sheriff Mildred S. Scott retired as sheriff’s chief officer in July 1995. She returned to Middlesex County’s employ in 2009 as an elected freeholder. Two years later, she was elected sheriff, taking office in January 2011. Scott, 64, receives $188,000 a year as of 2011 – a salary of $127,000 plus her $61,000 pension.

Former Middlesex County Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo, who retired from the position at the beginning of 2011, earned a salary of $127,000 and receives a pension of nearly $58,000 a year. Spicuzzo was arrested in March for bribery official misconduct during his tenure as sheriff. He was indicted in August 2011.

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