Scotch Plains
Municipality · Union County
117 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through Scotch Plains, reporting a median pensionable salary of $80,445.
Scotch Plains, a municipality in Union County, operates under New Jersey's Title 11A civil service system rather than setting its own hiring rules independently.
Within Union County, 23 local government entities in total carry this same confirmed status.
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.
Scotch Plains Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 23 civil service jurisdictions in Union County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at Scotch Plains
117 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through Scotch Plains. 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 | 66 | 56% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 51 | 44% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 48 police officers and 3 firefighters. PFRS enrolment is the only occupational detail this dataset carries; it lists no job titles, so nothing here says which civil service titles Scotch Plains 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 Scotch Plains.
Pensionable salary at Scotch Plains
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at Scotch Plains reports a pensionable salary above $80,445 and half below, across 117 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $50,842 |
| 25th percentile | $64,235 |
| Median | $80,445 |
| 75th percentile | $130,461 |
| 90th percentile | $148,371 |
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 18 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 67th percentile, above the county's midpoint of $72,942. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 69th 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 Scotch Plains
The median enrolled member at Scotch Plains has 10.9 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 6 and 19.4 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 | 25 | 21% |
| 5 to 10 years | 31 | 26% |
| 10 to 15 years | 15 | 13% |
| 15 to 20 years | 17 | 15% |
| 20 to 25 years | 14 | 12% |
| 25 years or more | 15 | 13% |
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 Scotch Plains, 37% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 41 | 35% |
| Tier 2 | 1 | 1% |
| Tier 3 | 32 | 27% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 43 | 37% |
What civil service status means for jobs at Scotch Plains
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.
Permanent employees carry layoff rights. In a layoff, rights are determined by permanent status and seniority within the affected unit, displacement into another title can be available, and laid-off employees go onto a special reemployment list that takes priority when the title is filled again. None of that applies to provisional or temporary service.
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 Scotch Plains Township
Scotch Plains Township appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the township government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
One other Scotch Plains Township body is listed separately: Scotch Plains Library, a public library. It is a distinct employer with its own hiring, so a job there is not a job with the township, and permanent status earned at one does not carry to the other.
- Scotch Plains 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 Union County
Union County holds 23 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 9 public libraries, 9 municipalities, 2 boards of health, 2 housing authorities, and 1 county government.
9 of the county's 21 municipalities are among them.
Union 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: Union Township Library, Clark Library, Clark Township, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Housing Authority, Elizabeth Library, Hillside Library, Hillside Township. See all 23 in Union County.
Common questions about Scotch Plains
Is Scotch Plains a civil service employer?
Yes. Scotch Plains 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 Scotch Plains cover the rest of Scotch Plains Township?
No. Scotch Plains Township 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 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.
Does the Civil Service Commission decide who gets hired?
No. The Commission runs the examination, ranks the candidates and certifies the list. The employer is the appointing authority: it decides whether to fill the position at all and which of the reachable candidates to appoint. That division is why a high score improves your odds without guaranteeing anything.
How many Scotch Plains employees are in a State pension system?
117 active memberships are reported through Scotch Plains, split across 66 in PERS and 51 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 Scotch Plains?
$80,445, with the middle half of members between $64,235 and $130,461. 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 Scotch Plains compare with the rest of Union County?
Its median pensionable salary of $80,445 sits at the 67th percentile among the 18 civil service jurisdictions in Union County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $72,942. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at Scotch Plains?
The median enrolled member has 10.9 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.