West Milford Township
Municipality · Passaic County
129 people are enrolled in a State pension fund through West Milford Township, reporting a median pensionable salary of $76,275.
West Milford Township is a confirmed New Jersey civil service jurisdiction — a municipality in Passaic County that has adopted Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes to govern how it hires, classifies, and promotes employees.
Passaic County has 20 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.
West Milford Police Department — discipline and transparency records via PoliceTransparencyNJ
See all 20 civil service jurisdictions in Passaic County, or browse the full employer directory.
Who is on the pension rolls at West Milford Township
129 people are enrolled in a State-administered pension fund through West Milford Township. 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 | 86 | 67% |
| PFRS | Police and Firemen's Retirement System | 43 | 33% |
Within PFRS, the fund records 43 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 West Milford Township actually appoints.
2 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 West Milford Township.
Pensionable salary at West Milford Township
Half of the pension-enrolled workforce at West Milford Township reports a pensionable salary above $76,275 and half below, across 129 members with a reported figure.
| Point in the distribution | Pensionable salary |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $46,915 |
| 25th percentile | $61,846 |
| Median | $76,275 |
| 75th percentile | $96,954 |
| 90th percentile | $137,619 |
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 11 civil service jurisdictions in the same county with pension data, that median sits at the 64th percentile, above the county's midpoint of $74,681. Against the 194 bodies of the same kind statewide, it sits at the 59th 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 West Milford Township
The median enrolled member at West Milford Township has 9.8 years of credited service, with the middle half falling between 4.8 and 18.8 years. 20% 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 | 40 | 31% |
| 5 to 10 years | 26 | 20% |
| 10 to 15 years | 13 | 10% |
| 15 to 20 years | 24 | 19% |
| 20 to 25 years | 19 | 15% |
| 25 years or more | 7 | 5% |
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 West Milford Township, 47% sit in the most recently hired cohort.
| Membership tier | Members | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (longest-serving cohort) | 37 | 29% |
| Tier 2 | 5 | 4% |
| Tier 3 | 27 | 21% |
| Tier 5 (most recently hired cohort) | 60 | 47% |
Other public employers in West Milford Township
The pension system reports these separate public employers in West Milford Township. 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 |
|---|---|
| WEST MILFORD TOWNSHIP BD OF ED | 500 |
| WEST MILFORD TOWNSHIP (this page) | 129 |
What civil service status means for jobs at West Milford Township
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.
A permanent appointment starts with a working test period. You hold the title, you draw the salary, and you can still be released for unsatisfactory performance without the full removal process. Permanent status, and the job protection that comes with it, begins only once that period is completed satisfactorily.
When there is no eligible list for a title, an employer can fill the job provisionally. Provisional service is real work at real pay, but it builds no permanent rights, and the employer is supposed to request an examination so the position can be filled permanently. Anyone appointed provisionally who wants to keep the job needs to take that examination when it comes.
Civil service employers in West Milford Township
West Milford Township appears in the Commission's listing in its own right, so the township government is the appointing authority for its own classified staff.
Two other West Milford Township bodies hold civil service status separately from the township government, listed below. Each runs its own examinations and keeps its own eligible lists, so West Milford Township is really three employers rather than one.
- West Milford Library, public library
- West Milford Municipal Utilities Authority, municipal utilities authority
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 Passaic County
Passaic County holds 20 confirmed jurisdictions in the Commission's listing: 8 municipalities, 7 public libraries, 3 municipal utilities authorities, 1 board of social services, and 1 county government.
8 of the county's 16 municipalities are among them.
Passaic 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: Clifton Library, Passaic City, Passaic City Library, Passaic County Board of Social Services, Passaic Valley Water Commission, Paterson, Paterson Library, Pompton Lakes Borough. See all 20 in Passaic County.
Common questions about West Milford Township
Is West Milford Township a civil service employer?
Yes. West Milford Township 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 West Milford Township cover the rest of West Milford Township?
No. West Milford 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.
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.
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.
How many West Milford Township employees are in a State pension system?
129 active memberships are reported through West Milford Township, split across 86 in PERS and 43 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 West Milford Township?
$76,275, with the middle half of members between $61,846 and $96,954. 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 West Milford Township compare with the rest of Passaic County?
Its median pensionable salary of $76,275 sits at the 64th percentile among the 11 civil service jurisdictions in Passaic County with pension data, where the midpoint jurisdiction reports $74,681. Local pay is set by ordinance rather than a State schedule, so spreads inside one county are wide.
How long do people stay at West Milford Township?
The median enrolled member has 9.8 years of credited service, and 20% 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.