Philly Sheriff seeks new headquarters, academy, and $20 million budget boost

Rochelle Bilal, the embattled sheriff of Philadelphia, wants more money — and a new office.

As Bilal fends off calls for her office to be abolished, she is asking city officials to drastically increase her staff and budget, while also floating plans for a new headquarters in Tioga and a deputy training academy in North Philadelphia.

At a City Council budget hearing on Tuesday, Bilal requested an almost $20 million boost to her $34 million budget and spoke about the need to train new deputies inside city limits. Recruits must currently travel three hours to a facility in State College, Pa., to attend a 19-week training course. The sheriff says the distance and extended time away had made recruitment more difficult.

Bilal said she had identified a suitable property to lease for a training facility that is “local and already cleared out.”

”We already submitted the space requirement to the city,” Bilal told City Council. “We want it as soon as we can. The end of this year or the beginning of next year.”

Records obtained by The Inquirer show that Bilal has requested permission from the city to lease more than 80,000 square feet of space in two commercial buildings in North Philadelphia — one for the training academy, and the other for a new office headquarters.

The academy would be located at 2929 North Broad St., inside a former Social Security Administration office building that is owned by local developer Guy Laren. The 44,950-square-foot facility is currently vacant. A rental listing for a portion of the property listed lease prices of around $20 a square foot — or about $800,000 to $900,000 annually.

The sheriff also requested a lease for another 40,000 square feet of space on the fourth floor of 2450 W. Hunting Park Avenue, a multistory industrial building near the Nicetown section of North Philly that was formerly part of the Budd Co. manufacturing complex. That space would replace the sheriff‘s current headquarters on the 5th and 6th floor of the Land Title building, in Center City.

The site has been marketed by New York City-based developer the Plymouth Group as a potential life science campus known as “Budd Bioworks.”

As recently as last year, State Sen. Sharif Street and Councilmember Curtis Jones had unsuccessfully pitched portions of the facility as a future home of the Philadelphia Police forensics lab. Street and Jones are both considered Bilal allies.

Street, on Wednesday, acknowledged he was involved in pitching the space to Bilal for a new headquarters. He said he viewed a city lease as a way to draw public attention to the proposed life science campus, which sits within his senate district.

“I think it would be a great idea for her to relocate there,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s a great site. It’s centrally located and it offers access to almost every part of the city.”

Street said the facility is a good fit despite the fact that much of the sheriff‘s work — like securing city courtrooms and transporting criminal defendants — revolves around downtown court facilities more than four miles away.

He said the sheriff also serves writs and warrants citywide, and would benefit from a site with highway access and ample parking.

“You’re serving people all over the city,” Street said. “And Center City is expensive. Parking alone is expensive.”

Street did not offer specifics on funding. Nor did Bilal or City Council members discuss in detail how her proposals would be funded in the budget hearing.

A spokesperson for the sheriff did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did spokespeople for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration.

The sheriff would have to contribute additional funding to support the costs of operating a local facility, vs. training deputy recruits at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency main academy in Central Pennsylvania.

Bilal indicated she had reached out to suburban sheriff‘s departments about chipping in toward those costs, and a budget document states that “requests for funding are being developed for submission to state agencies.”

On Wednesday, PCCD said the state agency is still awaiting specifics from Bilal.

“PCCD has requested information from the Philadelphia Sheriff‘s Office about their proposal,” said spokesperson Alison Gantz. “We have no further information to share at this time.”

The request for a new headquarters comes despite the fact that the department currently has over 100 vacant jobs, according to sheriff‘s officials. In addition to the lack of a convenient training location, Bilal has also said her office competes with the Philadelphia police department and prison system for applicants, both of which offer higher pay.

During Tuesday’s Council hearing, Council President Kenyatta Johnson expressed skepticism at Bilal’s request for a nearly 55% budget increase — largely to fund another 130 deputy positions — given that her office is struggling to fill dozens of jobs already approved in the budget.

“We’re going to look at those vacancies in calculations with what you’re actually requesting funding for,” said Johnson, a self-described Bilal supporter. “And we would like to see the vacancies filled first.”

The Sheriff‘s Office has faced two court orders — one in December 2024, another in March 2025 — from city judges, ordering the office to correct a long-running deputy shortage that had imperiled prisoner transport operations and courthouse security.

The courts have indicated that Bilal had submitted a plan in April regarding strategies to boost recruitment. However, the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority — the city’s state appointed fiscal watchdog — has recommended abolishing the Sheriff‘s Office due to chronic delays in recording deeds, lack of accounting controls, and difficulty resuming auctions of tax delinquent property.

In Council chambers, Bilal had some pointed criticism for PICA.

“They are way out of their line,” she said, “recommending elimination of any elected official in this city.”