PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal describes her office as dangerously underfunded, to the point that she is unable to buy needed supplies for her deputies.

"This jeopardizes the lives and safety of our sworn and civilian personnel," Bilal testified before City Council last year.

But when it came to getting a costume made for a newly created office mascot, her staff spared no expense.

They tapped an internal bank account full of public money to bring "Deputy Sheriff Justice" to life in time for last year's Thanksgiving Day Parade, cutting two checks totaling $9,250 to Pierre's Mascots & Costumes. The storied costume shop in Old City has crafted outfits for the likes of the Geico Gecko, Temple University's Hooter T. Owl, and late-night host Jimmy Fallon.

The checking account the Sheriff's Office used for this — and hundreds of other recent off-budget purchases reviewed by The Inquirer — contains revenue from fees that the office charges for various services such as property sales, evictions, and writs.

Expenses such as these violate provisions in Philadelphia's Home Rule Charter, according to a 2022 audit by the city controller and an opinion issued by the city Law Department. The charter defines fee revenue as public money that should be turned over to city coffers and allocated by the mayor and City Council during the annual budget process.

Instead, for years, the Sheriff's Office has kept the money, and used it to purchase everything from ammunition, Tasers, and filing cabinets, to the foam mascot and numerous promotional items, such as Rochelle Bilal trading cards.

City Hall has allowed the spending to continue, two years after the audit and four years after a former top aide to Bilal flagged it as a "slush fund" that skirts city regulations.

No one in Mayor Cherelle L. Parker's administration would discuss any aspect of the revenue stream this past week or respond to any questions from The Inquirer about how such money is collected or spent in the Sheriff's Office.

Robert Vargas, an associate professor at the University of Chicago who studies law enforcement spending, said it is concerning that the head of a major public agency had access to off-budget funding with less transparency and accountability than with ordinary city expenditures.

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