Council Setting Salary Ranges For Gloucester Township Employees

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Gloucester Township Council took the first step to set the salary range for township employees for the upcoming year when it met Monday night at the municipal building.

The salaries for mayor and council are set salaries, but the salaries listed for other township employees in the agenda packet are ranges, not salaries that are set in stone, officials said during Monday night’s council meeting.

Resident Sam Sweet asked why range increases are drastically different. He cited the range increase for the solicitor as being 44 percent since 2017, while the range increase for the business administrator is only 11 percent.

The mayor established the salary range based on the administration’s discussions with the mayor’s office and the township’s human resources department, Business Administrator Tom Cardis said.

Sweet also pointed out that all the part-time positions will begin in the $12 range effective Jan. 1, 2022. State law that increased minimum wage in New Jersey to $15 an hour states that the minimum wage must be $13 effective the beginning of the year.

Cardis said because they are ranges, part-time employees will be able to make more than $12 an hour. He also said that because they are voting on it this year, $12 is still the minimum wage, but Sweet argued that it should be $13 because the legislation won’t take effect until next year.

“I brought the same thing to Mr. Cardis,” Gloucester Township Council President Orlando Mercado said. “This is our first reading of the ordinance. We may be able to adjust or amend, but I am fully aware that minimum wage goes up to $13 in January.”

There are also some part-time exemptions, which are spelled out by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Gloucester Township Council approved the proposal on introduction. Final passage will come after a public hearing and second reading. Council will next meet at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 at the municipal building, 1261 Chews Landing Road.