Passaic County Sheriff Salary: Steps, PFRS, and Longevity

A Passaic County sheriff’s officer salary starts at roughly $47,443 per year for a new hire and climbs through 13 automatic annual steps to a top patrol rate of approximately $128,000. Those figures come from the current recruitment posting and the collective bargaining agreement between the county and PBA Local 197. Base pay is only part of the picture: night differential, longevity, educational stipends, detective and EMT differentials, overtime, and a defined-benefit pension all add meaningfully to what an officer takes home over a career.

Starting Pay and the Step Guide

New hires attend a state-certified police academy before assuming full duties. New Jersey’s Basic Course for Police Officers runs roughly 22 to 26 weeks depending on the academy, and recruits are typically paid at a training rate during that period. On graduation, the officer moves onto Step 1 of the departmental salary guide.

The PBA Local 197 guide contains 13 steps, and each step increase is automatic with a year of service rather than tied to performance. Step 1 sits at roughly $47,000; the top step reaches approximately $128,000. Every time the union contract expires, those numbers are renegotiated, so the exact figures shift with each new agreement. For a sense of how much the guide has moved, an older version filed with the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission listed Step 1 at $31,663 and Step 7 at $79,568 in 2006 dollars.¹

Pay After Promotion

Officers promoted to supervisory ranks leave the patrol guide and move onto a separate pay structure negotiated by the Superior Officers Association, PBA Local 286A. The current superior officer contract covers 2024 through 2028. Full salary schedules are not readily posted publicly, but based on the typical pay relationship in northern New Jersey sheriff’s offices, a Sergeant generally earns in the range of $130,000 to $145,000, a Lieutenant can exceed $150,000, and a Captain may earn between $165,000 and $175,000 in base salary alone.

The gap between a top-step patrol officer and a newly promoted Sergeant is often modest. A senior officer collecting longevity and night differential can occasionally out-earn a brand-new Sergeant on straight base pay. The financial incentive to promote becomes more pronounced at the Lieutenant and Captain ranks.

Night Differential

Officers working evening or overnight shifts earn extra pay on top of base salary. Under the PBA Local 197 contract, the night differential is 10 percent of base salary for shifts falling between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Officers hired after January 1, 2000 receive a reduced differential of 5 percent, and only for the 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift.¹

At a $100,000 base, a 10 percent differential adds $10,000 a year before any other adjustment. For officers who spend most of their career on evening or night shifts, it is one of the largest supplements to total pay outside of the step increases themselves.

Longevity Pay

Officers who stay long-term receive longevity payments as a percentage of base salary. The schedule in the PBA Local 197 contract is:

7 years of service: 2 percent of base pay
10 years: 4 percent
15 years: 6 percent
20 years: 8 percent
25 years: 10 percent

Each tier replaces the previous one rather than stacking. An officer at the top step earning about $128,000 with 25 years in would draw an extra $12,800 in longevity.¹

One important caveat: longevity may not count toward pensionable earnings. New Jersey’s pension regulations limit creditable compensation to base salary and identify longevity as “extra compensation” that does not count toward retirement benefits. A grandfathering provision for contracts executed before January 1, 2000 kept longevity pensionable for some, but that exception expired on December 31, 2001.²

Educational Stipends and Assignment Differentials

Officers with college degrees receive an annual educational stipend under the PBA Local 197 contract:

Associate degree: $1,000 per year
Bachelor’s degree: $1,500 per year
Graduate degree: $2,000 per year

Only one degree stipend is payable at a time, so earning a bachelor’s replaces the associate payment rather than adding to it. Officers who take approved law enforcement courses at accredited colleges also receive $20 per credit hour annually.¹

Officers assigned as detectives receive a separate differential ranging from $1,500 for a third-grade detective or corrections specialist up to $5,500 for a first-grade detective, with a commander differential of $3,000. Certified EMTs earn an additional $1,000 per year, which stops immediately on loss of certification.¹

Officers who perform outside security work through the department are paid through county payroll at no less than $25 per hour under the collective bargaining agreement. That secondary employment income is separate from base salary and does not factor into pension calculations.

Overtime

Sheriff’s officers are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, but law enforcement agencies can use the special calculation under Section 7(k) rather than the standard 40-hour workweek. The county can establish a work period of 7 to 28 consecutive days. In a 28-day period, overtime begins after 171 hours; in a 14-day period, after 86 hours. Overtime pays one and a half times the regular rate.³

Federal law also lets law enforcement officers accumulate up to 480 hours of compensatory time in place of cash overtime, at the same time-and-a-half rate. Whether an officer receives cash or comp time depends on the current agreement and department policy. The PBA Local 197 contract guarantees a minimum of four hours of overtime pay when an officer is called in, and eight hours if the call-in runs beyond five hours.³

Retirement Through PFRS

Passaic County sheriff’s officers are enrolled in the New Jersey Police and Firemen’s Retirement System. State law specifically identifies sheriff’s officers of all ranks as PFRS-eligible.⁴

Officers contribute 10 percent of salary on a pre-tax basis. The benefit depends on years of service:

25 or more years (Special Retirement): 65 percent of final compensation, plus 1 percent for each additional year, capped at 70 percent
20 to 24 years: 50 percent of final compensation
Fewer than 20 years: 2 percent of final compensation per year of service

Retirement is mandatory at age 65. Officers with at least 25 years can retire at any age under Special Retirement. Those with 20 or more years who were enrolled in PFRS before April 19, 2021 can also retire regardless of age under Chapter 92, though that window closes on May 1, 2029.⁵

“Final compensation” is defined differently by tier. Tier 1 members (enrolled on or before May 21, 2010) use their last 12 months of salary. Tier 2 and Tier 3 members use the average of the highest 36 consecutive months, or the highest three fiscal years, whichever is greater. Overtime and bonuses are excluded in all tiers.⁶

Health Insurance and Sick-Time Payout

As county employees, sheriff’s officers are eligible for coverage through the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program. The SHBP offers medical and prescription plans from multiple carriers, with plan options and employee premium contributions set annually. For Plan Year 2026, local government employees can choose from Horizon and Aetna medical plans across multiple tiers.⁷

Sick time accumulates through the career. At retirement, the PBA Local 197 contract pays out 50 percent of accumulated sick time in cash, capped at $15,000.¹

How to Verify Current Salary Figures

Because these officers are paid with public funds, their compensation is subject to New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, which requires that government records be “readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination by the citizens of this State.”⁸

The most reliable source for exact current numbers is the collective bargaining agreement itself. The county posts links to its labor agreements on the Passaic County Administration page, and the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission runs a searchable contract database at perc.state.nj.us. New Jersey’s Transparency Center also publishes quarterly public-employee payroll data, though county-level records may appear with a lag. If what you need is not posted, you can file an OPRA request with the Passaic County Clerk’s office; the custodian of records must respond within seven business days.⁹

1
New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission. Passaic County Sheriff’s Office and PBA Local 197 Contract
2
Cornell Law Institute. New Jersey Administrative Code 17:4-4.1 – Creditable Compensation
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Law Enforcement and Fire Protection Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
4
Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes 43:16A-3.8 – Eligibility
5
New Jersey Department of the Treasury. Police and Firemen’s Retirement System Member Guidebook
6
New Jersey Department of the Treasury. PFRS Retirement Estimate
7
New Jersey Department of the Treasury. SHBP for Active Members
8
New Jersey Government Records Council. New Jersey Code 47:1A-1 – Open Public Records Act
9
Justia. New Jersey Code 47:1A-5 – Times During Which Records May Be Inspected, Examined, Copied; Access; Copy Fees