June 08, 2026
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
District Attorney Larry Krasner pushed Mayor Cherelle Parker to reconsider her budgetary funding for his office in an open letter and press conference Monday.
District Attorney Larry Krasner took the unusual step of hand-delivering an open letter to Mayor Cherelle Parker on Monday, asking her to reconsider budget appropriations for his office.
Krasner is seeking another $5.7 million to continue operations and "avoid layoffs" within several of his office's units and task forces, he said ahead of his special delivery. Prior, private efforts to reach an agreement had failed, he said.
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"Sometimes it is necessary to do things when what you've tried so far has been less effective," Krasner said.
Though his request for additional money for technical support was included in the fiscal year 2027 city budget preliminarily passed by City Council last week, Krasner outlined five line items that were not funded. They include funding to launch a repeat domestic violence offenders unit, hire additional detectives to investigate elder abuse, strengthen the gun violence task force, support external victim services providers and relocate witnesses and victims.
Krasner characterized these initiatives as "key parts" of his budget request.
The 2027 budget allocates $60.1 million for the DA's office. That's a slight decrease from the $60.4 million the city expects to spend in the current fiscal year, but higher than the $59.3 million that was budgeted.
City Council preliminarily approved the 2027 budget last week after stripping the mayor's proposed tax on ride-shares and her proposed tax hike on short-term rentals like Airbnb.
Krasner's letter also pressed Parker for monthly in-person meetings to discuss public safety, a request he claimed he'd made for over two years. Since Parker took office, the letter claims, she has held just three scheduled meetings with the district attorney on top of "limited" phone calls.
"While our teams speak and collaborate daily, I believe we owe it to our residents as two of the highest-ranking city elected officials to meet monthly to discuss ways we can continue to improve the quality of life in Philadelphia," Krasner wrote.
The city's top prosecutor said he also sent the message to Parker via email with the president and majority and minority leaders of City Council copied. Nine victim services providers that partner with the DA's office penned letters of support, which were attached to the open letter.
Parker's office responded by pointing to the 55% increase in budgetary appropriations to the DA's office over five fiscal years. The city's budget for the fiscal year 2022, for example, allocated $40.4 million. That figure has increased over each subsequent year.
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