Philadelphia Sheriff Asks City Council For Budget Increase To Hire More Deputies
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Sheriff of Philadelphia has gone hat in hand to City Council, asking for a whopping 30-percent increase in his budget to hire 100 extra deputies.
Mayor Nutter proposes holding the Sheriff's budget on par with this year, about $13.3 million. But Sheriff Jewell Williams, now in his second year in office, told city council members that he needs 100 more deputies to help transport prisoners.
"The Sheriff's Office is in desperate need of those deputies," Williams said. "God forbid if we had a major incident. It would be a very disastrous incident if we don't have the bodies and the trained personnel."
So Williams wants a 30-percent increase in his budget -- totaling $4 million -- in part, he says, because of greater demands with the pending opening of a new family court building. His office, which is independently elected, currently has just under 200 deputies.
It's unclear if council will be receptive to the request.
