The City Attorney’s Office told the Finance and Personnel Committee it can maintain core services under the mayor’s proposed 2026 budget but flagged higher legal claims and federal grant–compliance work as near-term capacity pressures. City Attorney Evan Goike and his deputies detailed a $9.3 million departmental budget and said special-purpose accounts will drive much of next year’s costs.

The department’s proposed overall budget is roughly $9.3 million, an increase of about $183,000 from 2025, Goike said. Authorized full‑time positions fell by one under the mayor’s reduction request; deputies and section leads described how work has shifted across litigation, real estate and contracts, neighborhood revitalization and prosecutions.

Why it matters: the special‑purpose accounts (SPAs) that fund damages, claims and outside counsel are volatile and have spiked in prior years; the office told committee members the city must monitor SPA demands closely because they can exceed adopted appropriations and require transfers later in the fiscal year.

Goike and deputies described multiple areas of heavier workload. Deputy Robin Pedersen said federal grant compliance has required a broad reallocation of office time: “we have had to respond to the change in federal administration,” she told the committee, and attorneys are reviewing new certifications and injunctions tied to federal funding. The office also described repeated election‑related litigation that it successfully defended in 2024 and earlier this year, and significant employment defense work that reached the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Litigation and claims: Deputy Naomi Sanders told the committee the office “has settled multiple cases for, millions less than were demanded,” and that the office continues to defend appeals and litigated matters. Deputy Julie Wilson described municipal‑court prosecution activity, including review of OWI and reckless‑driving citations and a new property‑return calendar created with the circuit court to reduce the time burden on assistant city attorneys.

Neighborhood enforcement and affirmative litigation: Deputy Julie Wilson and Mary Channing said the office is ramping up affirmative enforcement — receiverships, code‑enforcement work and receivership cases — and that two dedicated assistant city attorneys are now working with municipal court and other partners on those matters. Channing said her transactional real‑estate and contracts team reviewed more than 105 new contracts in the past 12 months and helped draft several tax‑increment financing (TIF) amendments tied to infrastructure and housing initiatives.

MPS and capacity questions: Committee members pressed about the office’s work for Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Goike said the city is statutorily assigned as MPS’s general counsel under chapter 119 and currently has roughly two full‑time equivalents supporting MPS work; one FTE serves as general counsel and is estimated to spend about 90% of time on that role. He said the school board recently authorized two in‑house attorney positions that will be supervised by the city, but the district had not filled those jobs by the hearing. The city attorney’s office said it does not track time by billable hours and that shifting who pays for those services would require policy or statutory changes.

Staffing and recruiting: Goike said the office has been working to recruit more experienced assistant city attorneys and, with a recent hire, will be fully staffed for the first time in five years. He also asked for an additional paralegal to split litigation support between federal‑ and state‑court work and said additional attorneys would be used to expand affirmative litigation if funding were available.

SPAs and outside counsel risk: The office told the committee the proposed SPA for damages and claims is $6 million in 2026 — an increase from 2025 of roughly $1.3 million — and that outside counsel/expert witness spending is another SPA to watch. Committee members asked for historical SPA spending and trends; the city attorney’s office and the budget office will provide additional historical data on SPA outlays and carryovers.

Use of AI and research tools: Goike and deputies said the office limits AI use, noting LexisNexis’s AI‑boosted search is being used carefully and that attorneys must rely on professional judgment rather than accept AI output uncritically. "We are very cautious to limit the use of AI," Goike said.

What the committee directed or decided: The committee did not take a vote on the city attorney’s budget at this meeting. Members pressed for more data on SPA history and staffing, and the city attorney said the office would deliver more detailed demographic and workload information on request.

Next steps: The city attorney’s office will supply follow‑ups requested by aldermen, including a demographic breakdown of assistant city attorneys, a list of outstanding licensing and appeals matters referenced in the presentation, and longer‑range SPA spending history to help the committee weigh 2026 appropriations.

Ending: The department emphasized it can maintain core legal services under the mayor’s proposed 2026 budget but said additional federal grants, sustained increases in litigation or a rise in SPA claims would require either new funding or reallocation of staff time.