Bergenfield Borough
Municipality · Bergen County
134 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Bergenfield Borough, reporting a median pensionable salary of $87,270.
Bergenfield Borough is a confirmed New Jersey civil service jurisdiction — a municipality in Bergen County that has adopted Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes to govern how it hires, classifies, and promotes employees.
Bergen County has 50 confirmed civil service jurisdictions in total, including this one.
About municipalities in New Jersey
New Jersey has 564 municipalities, and each one decides for itself whether to operate under Title 11A. A municipality that adopts civil service hires and promotes employees through competitive exams administered by the state; one that hasn't sets its own local hiring rules instead.
Bergenfield Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 50 civil service jurisdictions in Bergen County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Bergenfield Borough
134 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Bergenfield Borough. That is a count of active memberships reported by the employer, not a payroll headcount: anyone not enrolled in one of these funds does not appear in this data at all, and no separate headcount for a New Jersey local employer is published anywhere we can check against.
| Fund | Name | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| PERS | Public Employees' Retirement System | 84 | 63% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 50 | 37% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 43 police officers and 7 firefighters. PFRS enrolment is the only occupational detail this dataset carries; it lists no job titles, so nothing here says which civil service titles Bergenfield Borough actually appoints.
3 of these members hold a second public job in New Jersey: their reported salary across all public employers exceeds what they are paid here. Shared and part-time appointments are common in local government, and the salary figures below count only the portion earned at Bergenfield Borough.
Pensionable salary at Bergenfield Borough
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Bergenfield Borough reports a pensionable salary above $87,270 and half below, across 134 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $47,841 |
| 25th percentile | $62,483 |
| Median | $87,270 |
| 75th percentile | $146,714 |
| 90th percentile | $162,331 |
The range runs from the 10th to the 90th percentile because the extremes are not informative: the lowest reported figures belong to part-time and partial-year members, whose credited salary is a fraction of a full-time equivalent.
Among the 25 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 72nd percentile, above the county's midpoint of $80,210. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 83rd percentile.
These figures are pensionable salary reported to the NJ Division of Pensions and Benefits for the four most recent quarters, not total pay and not take-home pay. Snapshot of March 31, 2026. How we compile this.
How long people stay at Bergenfield Borough
The median enrolled member at Bergenfield Borough has 13.1 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 6.3 and 22 years. 33% have passed twenty years, which matters locally because retirement eligibility and the pension formula both turn on service credit.
| Credited service | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5 years | 29 | 22% |
| 5 to 10 years | 19 | 14% |
| 10 to 15 years | 23 | 17% |
| 15 to 20 years | 19 | 14% |
| 20 to 25 years | 25 | 19% |
| 25 years or more | 19 | 14% |
Membership tier records which pension rules a member was hired under, so the mix is a rough picture of how recently a workforce turned over. At Bergenfield Borough, 34% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 51 | 38% |
| Tier 3 | 35 | 26% |
| Tier 4 | 2 | 1% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 46 | 34% |
Other public employers in Bergenfield Borough
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Bergenfield Borough. Each is its own employer for pension purposes, and only some are civil service jurisdictions — school boards, charter schools and parking authorities are ordinary public employers that were never part of Title 11A. Names link only where the body appears in this directory.
| Employer | Enrolled members |
|---|---|
| BERGENFIELD BD OF ED | 467 |
| BERGENFIELD BOROUGH (this page) | 134 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Bergenfield Borough
In a municipality that operates under Title 11A, the mayor, administrator or governing body still decides which positions exist and who gets appointed to them. What changes is the route in. Most permanent positions have to be filled from a list of candidates who took and passed an open competitive examination.
That flips the usual job hunt around. For a competitive title you announce yourself by filing for the exam when it is posted, not by dropping a resume at the municipal building. Municipal employers also run the widest mix of titles in this directory: police and fire, public works and sanitation, code enforcement and construction inspection, tax collection, clerical support, recreation, and dispatch.
Admission to an examination is decided on paper before anyone sits down to take it. The requirements printed in the specification are checked against what you wrote on the application, so experience you did not describe is experience that does not count. Vague employment history is the most common reason a qualified applicant never reaches the list.
A permanent appointment starts with a working test period. You hold the title, you draw the salary, and you can still be released for unsatisfactory performance without the full removal process. Permanent status, and the job protection that comes with it, begins only once that period is completed satisfactorily.
Civil service employers in Bergenfield Borough
Bergenfield Borough appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the borough government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
Two other Bergenfield Borough bodies hold civil service status separately from the borough government, listed below. Each runs its own examinations and keeps its own eligible lists, so Bergenfield Borough is really three employers rather than one.
- Bergenfield Board of Health, board of health
- Bergenfield Library, public library
Civil service titles used by New Jersey municipalities
Real classifications that New Jersey municipalities draw on, each linked to its official specification: the definition of the work, the requirements, and any licence the title depends on. A sample of the system rather than a roster or a list of openings.
Civil service coverage across Bergen County
Bergen County holds 50 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 21 municipalities, 20 public libraries, 4 boards of health, 1 board of social services, 1 county government, 1 housing authority, 1 school district, and 1 municipal utilities authority.
21 of the county's 70 municipalities are among them.
Bergen County is a jurisdiction too, though a county's decision does not bind the towns, authorities, libraries or districts inside it.
Also in the directory: Lodi Library, Lodi School District, Moonachie Borough, North Arlington Board of Health, North Arlington Borough, North Arlington Library, Oakland Borough, Oakland Library. See all 50 in Bergen County.
Common questions about Bergenfield Borough
Is Bergenfield Borough a civil service employer?
Yes. Bergenfield Borough appears in the New Jersey Civil Service Commission's listing of local civil service system jurisdictions as of July 2024, which makes it an appointing authority under Title 11A. Permanent appointments to competitive titles there come from eligible lists the Commission certifies, rather than from purely local hiring.
Does civil service status at Bergenfield Borough cover the rest of Bergenfield Borough?
No. Bergenfield Borough has more than one employer in the listing, and each holds its own status, runs its own examinations and keeps its own eligible lists. Seniority and permanent status earned at one do not transfer automatically to another, even inside the same town.
Does permanent status transfer to another civil service employer?
Not automatically. Permanent status belongs to a title at a particular appointing authority, so moving to another jurisdiction usually means a new appointment and a new working test period. Intergovernmental transfers between civil service employers are possible in the same or a comparable title, but they need agreement on both sides rather than being a right you can exercise.
Does the state salary schedule apply to local jobs?
No. The salary schedules in the Compensation Compendium cover state employees. A local employer sets its own pay through ordinance and its own collective bargaining, so two towns using the identical civil service title can pay very differently. The title specification is statewide; the money attached to it is local.
How many Bergenfield Borough employees are in a State pension system?
134 active memberships are reported through Bergenfield Borough, split across 84 in PERS and 50 in PFRS. This counts pension enrolment rather than payroll, so employees who are not in one of these funds are not included.
What is the median pensionable salary at Bergenfield Borough?
$87,270, with the middle half of members between $62,483 and $146,714. These figures are pensionable salary reported to the NJ Division of Pensions and Benefits for the four most recent quarters, not total pay and not take-home pay. It excludes overtime and most supplemental pay, and it is before tax, before the member's own pension contribution and before health premiums.
How does pay at Bergenfield Borough compare with the rest of Bergen County?
Its median pensionable salary of $87,270 sits at the 72nd percentile among the 25 civil service jurisdictions in Bergen County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $80,210. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Bergenfield Borough?
The median enrolled member has 13.1 years of credited service, and 33% have passed twenty years. Credited service drives both retirement eligibility and the pension formula, so a long-tenured workforce usually means fewer open competitive appointments in the near term.