early every New Jersey municipality reviewed in a recent probe ignored state laws capping sick and vacation leave payouts for their workers, in at least one case wasting nearly $200,000 of taxpayer money, the state’s top auditor says.

The Office of the State Comptroller probed 60 municipalities — selected based on their budgets and population sizes — and found 95% violated measures approved in 2007 and 2010 that were designed to curb employee benefit costs and avoid cushy payouts to government workers.

Just three of the 60 towns were entirely abiding by the laws, the agency said in a report released Thursday.

“Laws that were intended to lower property taxes are being ignored and violated in a staggeringly high number of municipalities,” acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh told reporters during a Thursday press call. “Municipalities are annually handing out what are effectively unlawful, under-the-radar annual bonuses. Waste is happening today and towns have committed themselves to even more waste in the future.”