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Philly sheriff Rochelle Bilal blames pay raise mix-up on aides and the Kenney administration

The sheriff said none of the money meant for hiring deputies went to exempt staff, but her office’s own records appear to contradict that.

Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal (center) as protesters gather outside the Union League of Philadelphia before the arrival of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to attend a January event in his honor.
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal (center) as protesters gather outside the Union League of Philadelphia before the arrival of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to attend a January event in his honor.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Sheriff Rochelle Bilal sought to distance herself Wednesday from a simmering budget controversy, claiming that her finance staff tried to double her salary without her knowledge. She also contended that Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration had advised her team that it could redirect money allocated for new hires to give raises to top staffers and others.

The Inquirer reported on Tuesday, citing an internal Sheriff’s Office memo and city finance records, that hundreds of thousands of dollars earmarked for new hires — including deputies — had instead been used to cover $500,000 in raises for “exempt” workers, those not hired through the civil-service system.

After Tuesday’s article was published, Sarah Peterson, a city spokesperson, said in an email that the city had sent an “erroneous notification” last June advising the Sheriff’s Office that the $1.5 million “was for raises,” but clarified during budget discussions with Bilal’s team last summer that the money was for new hires.

Bilal declined repeated requests to answer questions before the article was published. In an interview Wednesday with The Inquirer, Bilal said she felt misled by the Kenney administration on how much money was available for raises. But she also acknowledged that she is ultimately responsible for how funds are spent.

“I’m not making any excuses,” said Bilal, who was elected in 2019 and is running in next month’s primary for a second term.

Bilal asked for the public’s patience as she seeks to modernize an office that has been dogged by scandals under her predecessors.

“I’m a new elected official,” she said. “I never ran for elected office before. This is a learning process. But I’m doing my best to change the atmosphere.”

Last week, Bilal asked City Council for about $2 million in additional funding, primarily to hire new staff.

» READ MORE: Philly sheriff used money meant to hire deputies for executive raises, tried to double her salary to $285K

Last spring, Bilal’s office requested $25 million in new funding, which would have nearly doubled the office’s budget and workforce, according to Peterson. The city approved a $1.9 million increase, $1.5 million of it for new hires.

Bilal said the Kenney administration erroneously told her office the $1.5 million was available for exempt sheriff’s staff raises. Her aides spent weeks figuring out how to divvy up $1 million of it. Under that plan, Bilal’s salary would have doubled, from $136,083 to $285,000, while some aides would have received raises of up to 80%, records show.

City officials rejected the plan. She said her team later learned from the city that only $59,000 had actually been set aside for exempt raises.

By that point, Bilal said, “Everybody was thinking they were going to get a raise,” which left her in a bind.

So, Bilal said, city finance officials proposed the idea of reallocating a portion of the funds for new hires to cover smaller, but still significant, pay raises for exempt staff. The city eventually approved $500,000 worth of raises.

“That was the city’s suggestion because of the mistake they made,” Bilal said.

Peterson declined to comment Wednesday afternoon on that assertion.

While Bilal continued to insist on Wednesday that none of the money meant for hiring deputies went to exempt staff, her office’s own records appear to contradict that.

A Sheriff’s Office “justification” memo, obtained by The Inquirer through a Right-to-Know request, explained the reshuffling of funds:

“The hiring process [for uniformed positions] will not be completed prior to the end of the current fiscal year, which will temporarily leave open positions,” Patrick Lee, Bilal’s chief financial officer, wrote in November 2022. As a result, the memo explains, “We are using the opportunity to reallocate a portion of the … funds for our offices’ exempt staff.”

As for her own salary, Bilal ended up receiving a 5% raise, to $142,751, due to a provision in the city charter that caps yearly raises for elected officials.

Asked Wednesday why her salary would have increased to $285,000 under the first proposal sent to city officials, she said her staff had attempted to double her salary on their own, without telling her.

“I didn’t see their spreadsheet,” Bilal said of the proposal detailing raises for 30 employees. “When I saw that, I said, ‘No, I’m an elected official. … My pay scale is set.’”

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