Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority
Municipal Utilities Authority · Warren County
16 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority, reporting a median pensionable salary of $65,640.
Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority, a municipal utilities authority in Warren County, operates under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system rather than setting its own hiring rules independently.
Within Warren County, 16 local government entities in total carry this same confirmed status.
About municipal utilities authorities in New Jersey
A municipal utilities authority (MUA) runs water, sewer, or solid waste service for a town or region, funded by user fees rather than property taxes. MUAs are created under state law as independent authorities, so an MUA's civil service status is decided on its own, separately from the municipality it serves.
See all 16 civil service jurisdictions in Warren County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority
16 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority. 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 | 16 | 100% |
Pensionable salary at Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority reports a pensionable salary above $65,640 and half below, across 16 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $55,806 |
| 25th percentile | $56,936 |
| Median | $65,640 |
| 75th percentile | $80,416 |
| 90th percentile | $108,125 |
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 14 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 50th percentile, below the county's midpoint of $66,531. Against the 9 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 44th 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 Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority
The median enrolled member at Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority has 7.4 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 3.5 and 18.6 years. 25% 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 | 6 | 38% |
| 5 to 10 years | 3 | 19% |
| 10 to 15 years | 2 | 13% |
| 15 to 20 years | 1 | 6% |
| 20 to 25 years | 3 | 19% |
| 25 years or more | 1 | 6% |
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 Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority, 69% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 4 | 25% |
| Tier 2 | 1 | 6% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 11 | 69% |
Other public employers in Hackettstown
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Hackettstown. 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 |
|---|---|
| HACKETTSTOWN BD OF ED | 335 |
| HACKETTSTOWN TOWN | 47 |
| HACKETTSTOWN MUN UTIL AUTHORIT (this page) | 16 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority
A municipal utilities authority is funded by what it bills its ratepayers rather than by property taxes, and it is created as a separate public body with its own commissioners. That independence is why an MUA's civil service status is recorded separately from the municipality it serves.
Utility work is where licensing matters most. Treatment plant operator titles are tied to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection operator licences, and the licence class you hold generally determines which level of the series you can be appointed to. Around that licensed core sit repairers, meter technicians, sample collectors, inspectors and account searchers, which is where most people enter.
Temporary and seasonal appointments sit outside the permanent track entirely. Summer recreation staff, short-term project help and coverage for an absent employee are filled without an examination and end when the need does. The work counts as experience when you later apply for a competitive title, but it confers no status of its own.
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.
Civil service employers in Hackettstown
Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority serves Hackettstown Town, a town in Warren County, but it is in the listing as a municipal utilities authority on its own account rather than as part of the town government.
The Hackettstown government is listed too: Hackettstown. Both run under Title 11A, and both certify their own appointments, so applying to one tells you nothing about openings at the other.
Civil service titles used by New Jersey municipal utilities authorities
Real classifications that New Jersey municipal utilities authorities 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.
- Water Treatment Plant Operator
- Senior Water Treatment Plant Operator
- Water Treatment Plant Superintendent
- Senior Sewage Plant Operator
- Sewage Plant Superintendent
- Water and Sewer Utilities Superintendent
- Water Repairer 1
- Sewer Repairer 2
- Water Meter Repairer
- Water Sample Collector
- Sewer Inspector
- Water and Sewer Account Searcher
Civil service coverage across Warren County
Warren County holds 16 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 12 municipalities, 1 county government, 1 public library, 1 mosquito extermination commission, and 1 municipal utilities authority.
12 of the county's 22 municipalities are among them.
Warren 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: Liberty Township, Lopatcong, Phillipsburg, Phillipsburg Library, Pohatcong Township, Warren County Mosquito Extermination, Washington Borough, White Township. See all 16 in Warren County.
Common questions about Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority
Is Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority a civil service employer?
Yes. Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority 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 Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority cover the rest of Hackettstown?
No. Hackettstown 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.
Do veterans get a preference on these lists?
Yes, and in New Jersey it is unusually strong. On an open competitive list, disabled veterans who pass are ranked ahead of all other candidates, and other veterans who pass are ranked ahead of non-veterans, regardless of score. Preference has to be claimed and verified in advance, and it does not carry over to promotional examinations.
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 many Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority employees are in a State pension system?
16 active memberships are reported through Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority, split across 16 in PERS. 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 Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority?
$65,640, with the middle half of members between $56,936 and $80,416. 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 Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority compare with the rest of Warren County?
Its median pensionable salary of $65,640 sits at the 50th percentile among the 14 civil service jurisdictions in Warren County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $66,531. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Hackettstown Municipal Utilities Authority?
The median enrolled member has 7.4 years of credited service, and 25% 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.