New Jersey local government salary, 2004-2011

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According to 2008 U.S. Census data, the state of New Jersey and local governments in the state employed a total of 585,379 people. Of those employees, 465,049 were full-time employees receiving net pay of $2,459,242,541 per month and 120,330 were part-time employees paid $127,908,865 per month. More than 55% of those employees, or 322,868 employees, were in education or higher education.

Cities

In 2009, the State Committee of Investigation released a scathing report of large lump-sum payouts to public employees, often larger than annual salaries, during times of economic distress. Examining records for 2006-2009, the Commission identified more than $39 million in cash benefit payouts to public employees in 75 of New Jersey's 466 municipalities. The report singled out some of the more egregious offenders, including:

Atlantic City

Between 2004 and 2008, Atlantic City paid nearly $19 million to active and retiring municipal employees for unused accumulated leave. Among the recipients were 71 individuals who received checks in excess of $100,000 each, including former Fire Chief Benjamin Brenner, who retired in March 2004 with a lump-sum payout of more than $567,000 for unused sick, vacation and compensatory leave. Brenner also received an annual pension of $107,661.

Facing a budget shortfall in early 2009 prompted local officials to apply to the state for more than $9 million in extraordinary aid.

Avalon

In 2007 Avalon officials cut a check for more than $172,000 to retiring police Chief Stephen Sykes for unused accumulated vacation, sick and personal time and other leave. A year later, borough Public Works Director Harry deButts collected more than $78,000 for unused leave for a grand total between the two of more than $250,000.

Bernards Township

Between 2005 and 2009, five retiring Bernards police officers received a combined total of $390,735 in payments for accrued sick leave, including, in the case of one individual, a single lump-sum check for more than $100,000 in exchange for 217 accumulated sick days. The largest single sick-leave payout during this period – $194,069 – went to former Police Chief Robert DeNardo, who retired in 2006.

Camden

Between 2004 and 2008, the city awarded payments totaling more than $3.6 million to 159 retiring municipal employees for accrued sick and vacation time and other benefits. The bulk of that outlay – $2.3 million – went to just 20 individuals, including former Police Chief Edwin Figueroa and former Deputy Police Chief Joseph Richardson who, together, were granted more than $477,000 when they retired in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Below them, eight other top recipients of the retirement funds – all of them either police or fire personnel – received individual payments ranging from more than $106,000 to nearly $178,000.

Over the long run, Camden’s total retirement payout liability for active employees, based on the city’s existing benefit practices, is estimated at more than $25.5 million. Every retiring member of Camden’s municipal workforce can sell back an unlimited number of unused days at the value of one-half of the employee's current daily rate of pay – a formula that regularly triggers payouts well in excess of $15,000. Between 2004 and 2008, the city paid 16 police and fire personnel a combined sum of more than $500,000 for accrued sick leave. In one case, former Deputy Fire Chief James R. Alexander collected a lump-sum payout of more than $82,000 for unused sick days, in addition to an annual pension of $74,493.

Edison Township

Between 2004 and 2008, retiring Edison employees collected more than $3.9 million in lump-sum payments for unused leave and other benefits. Despite the caps on sick-leave redemption, the vast bulk of that total payout – more than 80 percent – was for unused accumulated sick days.

Englewood Cliffs

In 2006 and 2008, the community paid five of its employees a combined sum of nearly $1.2 million in lump-sum cash benefits at retirement – an amount equal to more than 4 percent of the borough’s entire municipal-purposes property tax levy for 2008. These employees shared $561,886 in payouts for unused vacation leave, $330,482 for unused sick days, $291,000 in cash bonuses based on years of service and $13,810 for accumulated personal leave.

Fort Lee

Local taxpayers would have to pay for more than 30,000 days of unused leave banked by the borough’s 408 full and part-time employees. If all of this accrued leave were to be cashed in at once, the tab would exceed $7 million – an amount equal to 11 percent of Fort Lee’s annual budget of $63.6 million.

Between 2004 and 2008, the borough paid retiring employees a combined sum of more than $1.4 million for unused sick, vacation, holiday, terminal and other leave. More than one-third of this payout – approximately $547,000 – was for accrued sick time.

Harrison

The Commission found that during the six-year period between 2004 and 2009, 19 retiring firefighters and civilian municipal employees received nearly $860,000 for accumulated unused sick leave. They also cashed in more than $498,000 in accumulated unused vacation time. The total of these leave redemptions – $1.35 million – was equal to 56 percent of the town’s average annual property-tax levy of $2.4 million for municipal purposes during those years.

Other benefits for Harrison’s employees include annual longevity raises of up to 14 percent depending upon length of service and bargaining unit, in addition to regular salary adjustments.

Hoboken

Hoboken paid more than $7.3 million in cash to retiring employees in exchange for accrued leave between 2004 and 2009. During the five-year period retiring Hoboken employees collected $3.87 million worth of terminal leave, including individual payments as high as $97,000, and $3.14 million in accumulated vacation leave. In numerous individual instances, the combined lump-sum payout was identical to or within several thousands of dollars of the recipient’s last annual salary.

Carmen LaBruno, Hoboken’s former police chief, agreed to retire in 2008 under the terms of a separation agreement in which the city awarded him a lump sum of $350,000, including $125,000 in accrued unused vacation leave, $150,000 in terminal leave and $75,000 in unused accumulated compensatory time. A confidentiality clause in the agreement cloaked this information from the general public. LaBruno’s final salary as Police Chief was $210,794.

Rockaway Towship

Generous retirement packages for 21 township employees, primarily police personnel, resulted in cash payouts totaling almost $1.2 million for accrued sick, vacation and personal leave between 2005 and 2008. Nearly half that sum – $593,280 – was distributed to just three individuals.

One of the three was former police Chief Walter Kimble, who, as part of a 2008 buyout negotiated with the township’s governing board, collected a combined total of more than $263,000, including $135,219 in accumulated personal/holiday time, $90,530 for unused sick days and $37,332 for unused vacation time.

Counties

In Bergen County, there were 36 employees in 2011 earning more than $150,000 in yearly salaries. In Monmouth County 2009, 336 employees got six figures, up from 319 in 2008.

The Essex County Medical Director earned $213,082 in 2011. In Middlesex County, the highest earner in 2009 was the Medical Examiner who earned $193,319 that year.

School districts

The highest paid positions among schools districts tend to be the superintendents. In Newark Public Schools, the District Superintendent earned the most at $275,000 in 2010-2011. In 2009-2010 for Jersey City Public Schools, the highest paid position was the superintendent, whose base pay was $258,000 for that year.

Compensation competitiveness and reform

In winter 2010, Governor Chris Christie held a series of town halls proposing that public school teachers take a pay freeze and start contributing 1.5% of their salaries to their health care plans, as opposed to nothing.

New Jersey schools were included in a study gauging the competitiveness of public teacher pay. Compared to similarly skilled private-sector workers, public school teachers earned comparable wages but received more generous fringe benefits, including greater job security, and these made total compensation 52 percent greater than fair market levels.

Law enforcement

In the Bergen County Police Department, there were 36 employees earning more than $150,000 a year for 2011. The highest-paid official that year was the police captain, earning $175,000. For the Essex County Sheriff's Office, there had been no employees earning more than $150,000 since at least 2008. The highest paid position was the Sheriff who made $137,917 in 2011.

Fire departments

For the 63 new firefighters hired by Jersey City Fire Department, starting salary was $37,000.

The Newark Fire Department's 2010 payroll was $5.13 million, but pay based on hours actually worked accounted for just shy of $4 million, while benefit hours for sick, holiday, stress and vacation cost $1.15 million, or 22 percent of all pay.

Salary articles

In 2011, Sunshine Review requested salary information from 19 local governments in the state.

Cities

• Jersey City
• Newark

Counties

• Bergen County
• Middlesex County
• Essex County
• Monmouth County

School districts

• Newark Public Schools
• Jersey City School District
• Freehold Regional High School District
• Paterson Public Schools

Law enforcement

• Bergen County Police Department
• Middlesex County Sheriff's Office
• Essex County Sheriff's Office
• Monmouth County Sheriff's Office
• Jersey City Police Department
• Newark Police Department
• New Jersey State Police

Fire

• Jersey City Department of Fire and Emergency Services
• Newark Fire Department

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.

External links

• NJ Public Employees pension search
• NJ Police Salaries Highest in Nation
• NJ Public School Teachers 2009-2010, Asbury Park Press
• NJ Public Employee Salaries, CamdenCounty.com, 2010
• NJ Police Salaries Rank Highest in Nation, 2010
• NJ State Employees Overtime and Salaries, 2006