Bridgewater Salaries To Increase For Police Chief, Department Heads

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Some township employees will see a bump in pay after the Bridgewater Council introduced an ordinance on Monday setting the salaries and compensation.

The annual ordinance impacts township officials including department heads, municipal employees, and the Chief of Police. While most could see an increase in pay, there will be no increase for the mayor or council members this year.

Mayor Matthew Moench said the compensation for the council has not increased in the past 30 years.

"It continues to not move," said Moench.

Moench noted that the salaries that saw an increase were made to better align with their job responsibilities.

"I think [the ordinance] tries to recognize the worth of our employees who do a good job day after day," said Councilman Howard Norgalis.

Here are the proposed salaries for 2022-23 versus the salaries from 2021-22:

• Mayor - $15,000 (same)
• Township Council President - $8,000 (same)
• Township Council - $ 7,000 (same)
• Township Clerk - $112,235.71 increase to $125,000
• Director of Administration/Finance - $179,520 increase to $186,000
• Chief Financial Officer - By Contract
• Tax Assessor - $130,164.80 increase to $147,768.10
• Director of Municipal Services - $136,386.68 increase to $139,117.41
• Director of Human Services - $138,000 increase to $140,760
• Director of Law - By Contract
• Municipal Judge - $59,146.24 increase to $60,329.16
• Court Clerk/Administrator - $78,457.73 increase to $89,250
• Prosecutor - By Contract
• Public Defender - $600 per session (same)
• Chief of Police - $176,392.37 increase to $185,000

Moench went over a few of the larger increases including the tax assessor, township clerk, court clerk and chief of police. He noted many of the increases were linked to the positions taking on additional responsibilities.

The tax assessor's salary increased by $15,000 but Moench noted the township actually saved $15,000.

Moench said the township used to hire an outside consultant to help but the tax assessor is now taking on that responsibility.

"Rather than going out and hiring another consultant for $30,000 we increased his salary by $15,000. We get the work done and we don't have to pay the outside consultant," said Moench.

The Chief of Police's salary was increased to align with similar towns in size to keep the town competitive. Moench noted that the township had trouble hiring a CFO in the past because the salary was not in line with other towns.

The Township Clerk's salary also saw an increase due to similar reasons.

"If we want to talk about hardworking and underpaid that's an easy one. This is the same thing. Her salary is low and we are trying to recognize the excellent work of our employees and bring them up to market," said Moench. "There are clerks in other towns that get paid significantly more."

Moving forward for next year, Moench "committed" to Councilman Timothy Ring, who will be serving on the budget subcommittee, to pass this ordinance sooner.

"I think we owe it to our employees to do this earlier in the year. We are setting 2022 salaries now. Basically what it means is we have to go back and pay retro. It's a lot fairer to our employees to do this earlier in the year," said Ring. "I will push hard to have a salary ordinance in conjunction with an introduction of a budget to this council."

The ordinance will go before a final hearing where the public can comment before the council passes it at the Dec. 19 meeting.

See below for the full ordinance:

11a (1) by Alexis Tarrazi on Scribd

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