Fort Lee
Municipality · Bergen County
272 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Fort Lee, reporting a median pensionable salary of $92,349.
As a municipality in Bergen County, Fort Lee falls under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system, which governs competitive hiring, classification, and promotion for its employees.
It is one of 50 confirmed civil service jurisdictions in Bergen County.
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.
Fort Lee 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 Fort Lee
272 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Fort Lee. 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 | 168 | 62% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 104 | 38% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 104 police officers. PFRS enrolment is the only occupational detail this dataset carries; it lists no job titles, so nothing here says which civil service titles Fort Lee actually appoints.
5 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 Fort Lee.
Pensionable salary at Fort Lee
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Fort Lee reports a pensionable salary above $92,349 and half below, across 272 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $40,820 |
| 25th percentile | $58,034 |
| Median | $92,349 |
| 75th percentile | $149,999 |
| 90th percentile | $176,751 |
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 92nd percentile, above the county's midpoint of $80,210. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 93rd 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 Fort Lee
The median enrolled member at Fort Lee has 11.7 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 5.2 and 21.8 years. 31% 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 | 65 | 24% |
| 5 to 10 years | 46 | 17% |
| 10 to 15 years | 52 | 19% |
| 15 to 20 years | 26 | 10% |
| 20 to 25 years | 35 | 13% |
| 25 years or more | 48 | 18% |
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 Fort Lee, 33% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 94 | 35% |
| Tier 2 | 8 | 3% |
| Tier 3 | 80 | 29% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 90 | 33% |
Other public employers in Fort Lee Borough
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Fort Lee 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 |
|---|---|
| FORT LEE BD OF ED | 507 |
| FORT LEE BOROUGH (this page) | 272 |
| FORT LEE PARKING AUTHORITY | 18 |
| FORT LEE HOUSING AUTHORITY | 5 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Fort Lee
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.
Your title, not your assignment, defines what you are supposed to be doing. If the duties you actually perform drift outside the specification for the title you hold, that is a classification question rather than a management preference, and an employee can ask for the position to be reviewed and reclassified. It is one of the quieter protections in the system and one of the least used.
New Jersey does not require an employer to hire whoever scored highest. When a list is certified, the appointing authority may choose among the top three interested candidates, which is why a rank of two or three on a list is still a serious position and why interviews still decide outcomes.
Civil service employers in Fort Lee Borough
Fort Lee Borough appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the borough government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
One other Fort Lee Borough body is listed separately: Fort Lee Library, a public library. It is a distinct employer with its own hiring, so a job there is not a job with the borough, and permanent status earned at one does not carry to the other.
- Fort Lee 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: Fort Lee Library, Garfield, Garfield Library, Hackensack, Hackensack Library, Lodi Borough, Lodi Housing Authority, Lodi Library. See all 50 in Bergen County.
Common questions about Fort Lee
Is Fort Lee a civil service employer?
Yes. Fort Lee 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 Fort Lee cover the rest of Fort Lee Borough?
No. Fort Lee 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.
Can you challenge an examination result?
Yes. Eligibility determinations, examination scoring and list placement can be appealed to the Civil Service Commission, and there are filing deadlines measured from the date of the notice rather than from when you happen to see it. The appeal route is the reason the notices matter: missing the window generally forecloses the argument.
How long does it take to get hired through this process?
Longer than an ordinary job application, and the timing is not in the hands of the employer. An announcement has to close, the examination has to be held and scored, the eligible list has to be promulgated, and only then can the employer request a certification. Several months between filing and an appointment is normal rather than a sign that something has gone wrong.
How many Fort Lee employees are in a State pension system?
272 active memberships are reported through Fort Lee, split across 168 in PERS and 104 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 Fort Lee?
$92,349, with the middle half of members between $58,034 and $149,999. 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 Fort Lee compare with the rest of Bergen County?
Its median pensionable salary of $92,349 sits at the 92nd 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 Fort Lee?
The median enrolled member has 11.7 years of credited service, and 31% 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.