South Toms River
Municipality · Ocean County
24 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through South Toms River, reporting a median pensionable salary of $53,224.
South Toms River is a confirmed New Jersey civil service jurisdiction — a municipality in Ocean County that has adopted Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes to govern how it hires, classifies, and promotes employees.
Ocean County has 28 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.
South Toms River Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 28 civil service jurisdictions in Ocean County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at South Toms River
24 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through South Toms River. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 14 | 58% |
| PERS | Public Employees' Retirement System | 10 | 42% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 14 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 South Toms River actually appoints.
Pensionable salary at South Toms River
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at South Toms River reports a pensionable salary above $53,224 and half below, across 24 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $34,214 |
| 25th percentile | $44,962 |
| Median | $53,224 |
| 75th percentile | $105,271 |
| 90th percentile | $121,416 |
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 23 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 4th percentile, below the county's midpoint of $67,000. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 4th 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 South Toms River
The median enrolled member at South Toms River has 6.4 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 1.3 and 18.7 years. 17% 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 | 10 | 42% |
| 5 to 10 years | 4 | 17% |
| 10 to 15 years | 3 | 13% |
| 15 to 20 years | 3 | 13% |
| 20 to 25 years | 3 | 13% |
| 25 years or more | 1 | 4% |
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 South Toms River, 25% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 6 | 25% |
| Tier 2 | 1 | 4% |
| Tier 3 | 11 | 46% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 6 | 25% |
Other public employers in South Toms River Borough
The pension system reports these separate public employers in South Toms River 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 |
|---|---|
| SOUTH TOMS RIVER BOROUGH (this page) | 24 |
| SOUTH TOMS RIVER SEWERAGE AUTH | 1 |
What civil service status means for jobs at South Toms River
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.
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 South Toms River Borough
South Toms River Borough appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the borough government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
Nothing else in South Toms River Borough appears alongside it. No library board, fire district, utilities authority or housing authority here holds separate status, which means every local job in South Toms River Borough that falls under Title 11A is a job with the borough government itself.
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 Ocean County
Ocean County holds 28 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 16 municipalities, 3 fire districts, 2 school districts, 2 municipal utilities authorities, 1 board of health, 1 board of social services, 1 county government, 1 public library, and 1 mosquito extermination commission.
16 of the county's 33 municipalities are among them.
Ocean 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: Lakehurst, Lakewood Fire District (1), Lakewood Municipal Utilities Authority, Lakewood Township, Lavallette, Little Egg Harbor Township, Long Beach Township, Ocean County Board of Health. See all 28 in Ocean County.
Common questions about South Toms River
Is South Toms River a civil service employer?
Yes. South Toms River 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.
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.
Do you have to live in New Jersey to work here?
Generally yes. The New Jersey First Act requires public employees hired after September 1, 2011 to live in the state, with a grace period for new hires to relocate and a narrow exemption process. Separately, individual examination announcements sometimes carry a local residency preference, which affects the order of the list rather than eligibility.
How many South Toms River employees are in a State pension system?
24 active memberships are reported through South Toms River, split across 14 in PFRS and 10 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 South Toms River?
$53,224, with the middle half of members between $44,962 and $105,271. 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 South Toms River compare with the rest of Ocean County?
Its median pensionable salary of $53,224 sits at the 4th percentile among the 23 civil service jurisdictions in Ocean County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $67,000. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at South Toms River?
The median enrolled member has 6.4 years of credited service, and 17% 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.