page_title: Newton, New Jersey
section_title: Local government
hierarchical_section_title: Newton, New Jersey / Government / Local government
caption_attribution_description: Located on Trinity Street, the Town of Newton's Municipal Building housing the town's offices, municipal court, and police department.
context_page_description: Newton, officially the Town of Newton, is an incorporated municipality located in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. It is situated approximately 60 miles by road northwest of New York City. One of fifteen municipalities in the state organized as a town, the municipal government operates under a council-manager structure provided by the Faulkner Act, or Optional Municipal Charter Law. As the location of the county's administrative offices and court system, Newton is the county seat of Sussex County.
  Newton was incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 11, 1864, from portions of Newton Township, which was also partitioned to create Andover Township and Hampton Township, and was then dissolved. Additional land was acquired from Andover Township in 1869 and 1927, and from Fredon Township in 1920.
  As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 7,997, reflecting a decline of 247 from the 8,244 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 723 from the 7,521 counted in the 1990 Census.
context_section_description: Newton operates under the Council-Manager form of municipal government (Plan B), in accordance with the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, as one of 42 municipalities (of the 565) in the state to use this form. This form of government was implemented based on the recommendations of a Charter Study Commission as of July 1, 1978. The town's governing board is comprised of a five-member Town Council, whose members are chosen at-large in non-partisan elections to four-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either two or three seats coming up for election in May of even-numbered years in alternating fashion. The council selects a mayor and deputy mayor from among its members to serve one-year terms of office, at a reorganization meeting held annually in July.
  As of 2020, members of the Town Council are Mayor Sandra Lee Diglio (term on council ends December 31, 2022; term as mayor ends 2020), Deputy Mayor Daniel G. Flynn (term on committee and as deputy mayor ends 2020), Matthew S. Dickson (2022), Helen R. Le Frois (2020) and Jason J. Schlaffer (2022).
  A binding referendum was held in July 2018 in which voters supported a shift in municipal elections from May to November, a change that could increase participation and save $10,000 in expenses related to the standalone municipal vote; the next municipal election will be in November 2020 and the terms of all five serving councilmembers will be extended by six months.
caption: Newton's municipal building, located on Trinity Street, houses the town's offices, municipal court, and police department.
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