Controller plans full probe of sheriff's finances

The Philadelphia Sheriff's Office's refusal to release financial information has set off alarms among auditors in the City Controller's Office, Controller Alan Butkovitz said Tuesday as he called for a full-scale probe of more than $53 million in Sheriff's Office accounts.

The controller's 2007-09 audit, released Tuesday, focused on the lack of information Sheriff John D. Green supplied to auditors between March and September 2009 - a finding contested by Green's office.

Auditors sought information on three of 11 accounts but received less than 20 percent of the items requested, the Controller's Office said. The three accounts are for delinquent taxes, mortgage foreclosures, and tax liens.

"The sheriff's ongoing refusal to cooperate and provide the financial materials we requested - materials and information that are routinely provided by all other city agencies we audit - raises concerns over the potential risk for fraud and other impropriety," Butkovitz said in a morning news conference. "These are real indicators that alarm auditors."

Now, Butkovitz said, he will demand documentation for all 11 in a sweeping forensic audit of the office.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Barbara Deeley said her office had cooperated with the Controller's Office and would continue to do so. She objected to a costly and intrusive forensic audit. Butkovitz estimates the cost of such an audit at $200,000 to $500,000. The Controller's Office would likely seek funding from the city to pay for it.

Deeley said the Controller's Office did not accept documents offered in September 2009 - the Controller's Office said auditors had moved on by then after six months of wrangling over information - and she questioned why Butkovitz would not now accept documents she offered to produce.

"Why is the city controller refusing to complete [its] 2009 audit to determine if there [is] any real justification for his drastic recommendations that could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars?" Deeley said in a hastily called afternoon news conference.

Deeley suggested Butkovitz was "getting ready" to campaign for mayor in 2015 at the expense of the outgoing sheriff.

Green was not available for comment, Deeley said.

Deeley also complained that she had only two days to prepare a response for the audit, while officials often are given two weeks. Butkovitz said he wanted to get the report out before Green's departure on Sunday. The sheriff's post is a four-year elected term.

"We wanted to make sure he had a full opportunity, while he was in office, to respond," Butkovitz said.

The Sheriff's Office conducts property sales, serves and executes writs and warrants, and enforces injunctions.

Auditors made 11 requests between March and September 2009 for information on three accounts that held $39 million. Both the Controller's and Sheriff's Offices provided e-mails showing a testy exchange between the offices as the sheriff failed to respond to requests.

"There were never any considerations given to the workload of our staff or the limitation imposed by an outdated computer system," the Sheriff's Office wrote in its official response.

Deeley showed an e-mail acknowledging the receipt of some documents in September 2009, but Butkovitz said those documents addressed just 65 of 378 requests. Auditors after that did not respond to an offer by the Sheriff's Office to "pick up" more documents.

Butkovitz said that even the files provided by the Sheriff's Office at an exit interview last week failed to address the document requests.

"At no time in recent memory has a city agency so blatantly refused to cooperate and provide the Controller's Office with financial information and data during the course of an audit," Butkovitz said.

Butkovitz said he would consider court action to gain access to the files, if necessary. He said he would send a letter demanding extensive documentation to the Sheriff's Office on Wednesday.

Butkovitz also criticized the Sheriff's Office for failing to record or track sick days or vacation days for its nonunion "exempt" management staff, including Deeley.

In 2009, 10 of the 17 employees recorded no days off at all, and eight employees show no time taken for the last three years, according to information provided by the Controller's Office.

Deeley acknowledged that detailed records had not been kept because those employees were expected to be available for work "24/7" and were not entitled to overtime or comp time. She said she would change that policy and begin keeping track of leave time when she takes over Monday.