The sheriff asks Council for a 54% budget increase, the largest of any city agency

At the same April 28 budget hearing where she testified that sheriff sales were going “full blast,” Bilal asked City Council to allocate $54.9 million to her office for the coming fiscal year — a 54% increase over its current $35.5 million budget, the largest percentage increase sought by any city agency. “We need staffing. We need funding,” she said. Sheriff deed transfers were down 76% year to date compared with 2019, according to city real estate records.

The hearing’s reception was largely warm. Councilmembers praised Bilal’s office; Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. credited its response during the 2020 civil unrest, and Councilmember Cindy Bass observed: “If you read some of the daily publications, you’d think the sheriff’s department was going to hell in a handbasket.”