City Attorney outlines 2026 budget, warns of rising claims and growing grant compliance work

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…