PHILADELPHIA (TND) — Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal appeared before her city council at a budget hearing last week asking for nearly $2 million for her department, saying it was understaffed and underfunded.

But according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, city finance records and an internal memo from the sheriff's office obtained by the publication show that Bilal already took hundreds of thousands in funds meant to hire more uniformed staff and instead used it to raise salaries in her office heavily.

Bilal and her office are now denying the allegations, however, telling The National Desk (TND) that The Philadelphia Inquirer's reporting is "simply incorrect" and that the money used was not ever meant to hire deputies.

The sheriff also tried to increase her own $136,086 salary to almost $285,000, effectively doubling it, the paper claims. That salary would have reportedly made Bilal the highest-paid elected official in the city.

While city charter provisions reportedly barred Bilal's requested 103% salary increase and officials in Philadelphia's finance department reportedly also declined some requests for pay increases for Bilal's senior staff, more than half a million was authorized for pay increases for the office in September 2022.

Those pay increases went to Bilal's "exempt" staff, according to the Philadephia Inquirer, which adds that those employees are "generally non-uniformed" and were "not hired through the civil service system."

Bilal's office tells TND that those salary increases use money not meant for deputies and were actually three different types of salary increases: "Equity," "Merit" and "Retention."

In the obtained memo, a top aide for Bilal writes that the sheriff's office failed to hire enough uniformed employees with all of its personnel funding, so the remaining money was used to cover desired pay raises.

The hiring process [of deputies] will not be complete prior to the end of the current fiscal year," Bilal’s chief financial officer Patrick Lee wrote. "As an independent/elected office, we are using the opportunity to reallocate a portion of the funds for our offices’ exempt staff."

Lee was reportedly a recipient of a 20% raise in his salary, increasing it to $120,000.

Still, Bilal appeared before her city's budget committee on April 4, claiming she needs more money for her department so that she can hire more deputies.

When I came into the office and looked at the numbers we had to hire, I said ‘okay, let’s start hiring,’” Bilal said during the hearing. “I got from the mayor’s office, ‘No, we don’t have the money.’

Craig Martin, Bilal’s budget director, called the issue "a money shortage and a body shortage" during the hearing, adding that there were 79 vacancies for deputies the department needs to fill.

A couple of the city's council members agreed that the department needed more money during the hearing.

Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. told Bilal that the city has "to appreciate the job that you and your team do" and that the city "to do that by making you respected by way of dollars." Councilman Jim Harrity, who said he once was one of those "exempt" employees in Bilal's office and that she was one of his "favorite law enforcement people," added that the city needs "to give you more respect" and "give you guys more money."

Bilal did not mention the more than half a million dollars spent on pay raises for the "exempt" staff in her office during the hearing, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, and she also reportedly faced "few probing questions."

Following The Philadelphia Inquirer's report, Bilal's office denied the allegations that she used funds meant to hire more deputies on salary raises instead, calling them "baseless" and adding that the paper "wants the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office abolished."

Absolutely no money was spent on salary increases that was meant for deputies,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to The National Desk. “This funding was meant to address salary issues for exempt employees. There is a multistage process, across city departments, that was followed by the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office.”Per usual, there are too many errors in the Philadelphia Inquirer article to count. The editors and writers should do additional research before publishing basless allegations," the statement added. It's unfortunate and disgraceful for publishing stories without adequate research.

Bilal is running for re-election next month, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which has posted a follow-up article on the allegations.

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