Phillipsburg
Municipality · Warren County
98 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Phillipsburg, reporting a median pensionable salary of $73,002.
Phillipsburg is a confirmed New Jersey civil service jurisdiction — a municipality in Warren County that has adopted Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes to govern how it hires, classifies, and promotes employees.
Warren County has 16 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.
Phillipsburg Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 16 civil service jurisdictions in Warren County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Phillipsburg
98 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Phillipsburg. 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 | 60 | 61% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 38 | 39% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 38 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 Phillipsburg actually appoints.
Pensionable salary at Phillipsburg
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Phillipsburg reports a pensionable salary above $73,002 and half below, across 98 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $47,480 |
| 25th percentile | $57,606 |
| Median | $73,002 |
| 75th percentile | $97,099 |
| 90th percentile | $139,437 |
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 79th percentile, above the county's midpoint of $66,531. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 48th 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 Phillipsburg
The median enrolled member at Phillipsburg has 10 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 3.7 and 20 years. 26% 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 | 33 | 34% |
| 5 to 10 years | 16 | 16% |
| 10 to 15 years | 15 | 15% |
| 15 to 20 years | 9 | 9% |
| 20 to 25 years | 10 | 10% |
| 25 years or more | 15 | 15% |
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 Phillipsburg, 41% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 31 | 32% |
| Tier 2 | 1 | 1% |
| Tier 3 | 24 | 24% |
| Tier 4 | 2 | 2% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 40 | 41% |
Other public employers in Phillipsburg
The pension system reports these separate public employers in Phillipsburg. 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 |
|---|---|
| PHILLIPSBURG TOWN BD OF ED | 572 |
| PHILLIPSBURG TOWN (this page) | 98 |
| PHILLIPSBURG HOUSING AUTHORITY | 21 |
What civil service status means for jobs at Phillipsburg
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.
Not every position at a civil service employer is competitive. The classified service is divided into competitive, noncompetitive and labor titles, and above that sits the unclassified service, which covers department heads, confidential aides and similar positions filled without an examination. Which division a title sits in decides how you get it, so read the specification before assuming there is an exam.
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 Phillipsburg
Phillipsburg Town appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the town government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
One other Phillipsburg body is listed separately: Phillipsburg Library, a public library. It is a distinct employer with its own hiring, so a job there is not a job with the town, and permanent status earned at one does not carry to the other.
- Phillipsburg 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 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 Library, Pohatcong Township, Warren County Mosquito Extermination, Washington Borough, White Township, Allamuchy Township. See all 16 in Warren County.
Common questions about Phillipsburg
Is Phillipsburg a civil service employer?
Yes. Phillipsburg 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 Phillipsburg cover the rest of Phillipsburg?
No. Phillipsburg 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.
How do you find out when an examination is announced?
Announcements are published by the Civil Service Commission on their own schedule, each with a filing window that closes on a fixed date. Local employers do not always advertise separately, so watching the announcements directly is more reliable than watching a municipal website. Filing late is not curable, which makes the calendar the single most important part of the process.
Are there jobs here that never go through an examination?
Yes. Unclassified positions, which typically include department heads and confidential staff, are filled at the discretion of the appointing authority. Noncompetitive and labor titles inside the classified service are also filled without a competitive examination, though they still sit under civil service rules for things like layoff rights.
How many Phillipsburg employees are in a State pension system?
98 active memberships are reported through Phillipsburg, split across 60 in PERS and 38 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 Phillipsburg?
$73,002, with the middle half of members between $57,606 and $97,099. 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 Phillipsburg compare with the rest of Warren County?
Its median pensionable salary of $73,002 sits at the 79th 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 Phillipsburg?
The median enrolled member has 10 years of credited service, and 26% 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.