The City of Bridgeton is governed within the Faulkner Act system of municipal government, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under Mayor-Council plan A, as implemented on July 1, 1970, based on the recommendations of a Charter Study Commission. The city is one of 71 municipalities (of the 565) statewide governed under this form. The governing body is comprised of a mayor and a five-member City Council. Council members are elected at-large in non-partisan elections and serve concurrent four-year terms of office in balloting held as part of the November general election. Based on the results of an ordinance passed in June 2011, Bridgeton's non-partisan elections were shifted from May to November, which took effect with the November 2014 general election.