After the $20 million finding, none of the City Council members who responded to an Inquirer survey clearly favors abolishing the sheriff’s office; a state lawmaker says it should be eliminated

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sean Collins Walsh, Anna Orso, Ryan W. Briggs, and William Bender attempted to contact all 17 City Council members after a deputy undersheriff testified in September that an audit had found nearly $20 million in sheriff-sale proceeds the office had failed to transfer to the city. Five members said they opposed or were skeptical of eliminating the office; six acknowledged they might be open to a conversation about it at some point; six declined to comment or did not respond. None of the members who responded clearly favored abolishing it. Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who controls the flow of city legislation, objected to proposals from the Committee of Seventy and the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority to fold the office’s duties into other branches of government: “It’s an independent body, and so right off the top, I know I don’t support abolishing it,” he said, adding that the office was “due for some reforms.” Johnson said Council “will be taking a close look at that $20 million and why it wasn’t distributed to Philadelphia,” but declined to commit to a public hearing.

State Rep. Jared Solomon, whom the Inquirer described as “a rare vocal supporter of abolishing the office,” said: “We should get rid of it, and turn [the office’s tasks] over to a highly competent technocrat working with the mayor and Council. The office has been plagued with corruption and incompetence and mismanagement for all of modern history.” Of the $20 million, he said: “At a moment in time when my constituents can’t afford their prescription drugs or figure out how to put food on the table or pay their gas bill, she lost $20 million.” Bilal and her spokesperson, Teresa Lundy, did not respond to questions about the missing money and Council’s response.

The Inquirer also reported that Council’s final budget for the office, approved this year after Bilal sought a more than 50% increase, was a $146,000 funding increase, bringing the office’s total to $35.8 million.