Gloucester City Voters Face a Choice Without Change

Salaries for Current Police Dept. Employees below

Cleary’s Notebook News

**Gloucester City Councilman Ed Cilurso and the present Democratic Mayor Dayl Baile**

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ-The City ranks 17th among the state’s 20 towns with the highest property taxes. With 566 cities and towns in New Jersey, that’s not a distinction poor Gloucester City residents can keep affording. In past years, Gloucester City ranked among the top 30 cities with the highest property taxes.

The total cost for the 143 employees in 2026 is $15,015,348.

Half of this year’s $30 million spending plan went towards funding employee salaries, health insurance, and pensions. There are 113 full-time employees represented by four labor unions. And 30 part-time employees; seven of those include the governing body.

“Eventually, something will have to change,” said a union representative who works for the City. “Gloucester’s infrastructure is in such dire need of repair that it will cost millions to update it. And city employees will not go without a pay raise. At some point, the mayor and council will have no other choice but to reduce the labor force.”

According to our research, Dayle Baile is running as an Independent mayor candidate because the Camden County Democratic Committee and the Gloucester City Democratic Committee are punishing him for not voting in the June Primary. Despite the fallout, he remains a Camden County Democratic Committee member.

A LOCAL RINO

The chairman of the Gloucester City Republican Committee announced last week that Republicans should vote for Baile because he has done such a great job as mayor.

Why Was Mayor Baile Black-Balled?

THE FALLOUT BECAUSE BAILE SKIPPED THE PRIMARY

Currently, white-collar workers in the municipal building tell us the friction is so bad that no one talks to anyone else. “Everyone is doing whatever they want. Mayor Baile being on the outs with “The Party” isn’t helping.”

We were also told that Councilman John “Bowie” Johnson is running everything behind the scenes. “He chose Cilurso to replace Baile. Nothing is getting done,” the municipal employee said.

Although Gloucester City has a dire need for a full-time City administrator, a position that has been the city’s most important job for the past 50 years, it is doubtful anything will change under the current arrangement. Morrell will remain both the city administrator and the police chief.

Recently, former Gloucester City Mayor Robert Bevan said in his Letter to the Editor, “Appointing Police Chief Morrell to the dual role of Acting City Administrator creates an unsustainable consolidation of executive power. While local officials often hide behind the excuse of “cost savings” to justify combining top jobs, the data show a different reality. Under this dual stewardship, Gloucester City property taxes have climbed by an average of $1,000 plus annually, creating a financial emergency for working families.

See; BLAME MAYOR BAILE FOR THOSE TAX HIKES

COUNCIL TAX AND SPEND IDEOLOGY WILL REMAIN IN PLACE

Comparing the Democrat mayor and council spending plan between 2019 and 2026, the budget increased from $18 million to $30 million, a $12 million increase. During the same time, the number of employees in the police department increased from 28 to 39.

HOW DID CHIEF MORRELL END UP AS CITY ADMINISTRATOR?

In December 2020, long-time city administrator Jack Lipsett quit suddenly over a disagreement with Mayor Daniel Spencer. Police Chief Brian Morrell was named the temporary part-time administrator by Spencer. In March 2021, a special committee interviewed 20 applicants. Morrell was one of the people on that committee. For some strange reason, none of those applicants were qualified. Today, Morrell continues as head of both departments.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Below are the current salary payments for the 34-member police department, and the hourly wage for five professional employees. Those five employees are all retired police officers. One of them is Michael Morrell, the chief’s brother. We obtained the details through an OPRA request. The data includes salary, 2025 overtime pay, title, and the employee’s hire date.

We submitted a similar OPRA request for the same information for all remaining city employees. Once we receive that list, we will publish it.