Last week, Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal appeared before City Council, seeking nearly $2 million in new support for an office she has described as “consistently underfunded” and “severely short in deputies.”

Bilal’s budget director, Craig Martin, did not mince words: “It’s a money shortage and a body shortage,” adding the office needed the cash to fill 79 vacant deputy jobs.

But city finance records and an internal Sheriff’s Office memo obtained by The Inquirer show Bilal recently diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to hire more uniformed staff — including deputies — to fund hefty raises for her executive staff and other office workers. Bilal also tried to more than double her $136,083 salary, records show, as part of a plan to dole out even larger raises using money meant for new hires.

City charter provisions barred that salary hike, and officials in the city’s finance department also balked at the other extensive raises Bilal wanted to give to her senior staffers. Had Bilal succeeded with the proposed 109% raise, her salary would have soared to $285,000, making her the highest-paid elected official in Philadelphia.