The ward commissioners shall fix and determine the ward boundaries so that each ward is formed of compact and contiguous territory. The population of the most populous ward so created shall not differ from the population of the least populous ward so created by more than 10% of the mean population of the wards derived by dividing the total population of the municipality by the number of wards created. The most recent Federal decennial census shall be used as the population determinant.
N.J.S. § 40:44-14