MILWAUKEE — Director of the Milwaukee Budget and Management Division Nik Kovac says there is a $100 million dollar operational gap that the the city must fill in for the 2026 budget by November 7th.
“It was first an $88 million dollar operational gap, but became $100 million dollars since the request came out because we now have increasingly high obligations we have to pay according to the pension actuary since May,” said Kovac. “So that means a $100 million dollars more in expenses than in revenues and we have several options as to how the mayor’s office plans to close that gap and broadly speaking in three categories. Those categories are to increase revenue beyond projections, to decrease expenditures beyond request such as making cuts, or to use sustainable withdraws from reserve funds.”
Novac says he is confident the city will be able to rearrange a few programs and pause others in order to balance the city budget for next year.
City mayor Cavalier Johnson says that there are always challenges when it comes to putting together a city budget, but points out that he does not want to let any city employees go.
“I always work to try to limit or make sure there are no layoffs,” said Johnson. “Again, we are super early in the process right now, but it is always my goal to make sure that we do not have layoffs.”
Currently, 75% of the city departmental requests come from the city fire department, police department and public works department.
Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski says that his department is looking for more than $21.5 Million dollars for the 2026 city budget in an effort to update and restore aging fire houses across the city as well as hire 61 additional firefighters.
“We’re hoping to add back two heavy apparatus meaning an engine company or a ladder company. Those are all hazards response vehicles that are very very crucial to fire protection and response times but they are also crucial stock gaps for all the EMS work we do as well.” said Chief Lipski. “We are also hoping to improve and maintain and do some upfitting with some of our aged buildings and get our fleet in order.”
Depending where cuts may come from, Kovac says that they will most likely come from outside fire, police and public works.
“Of the other departments, every other department that is more than $20 million gets some form of grants and funding,” said Novak. “Basically all the non-fire and police departments that are not self sustaining are going to be looked at and we’ll most likely be exploring cut options there.”
Of those departments that are not sustainable include the Milwaukee Public Library that relies it’s entire budget on the Milwaukee City Budget.
The library was able to get some federal support in the past through grants funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services which has since been shut down due to cuts from the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.
For this year, the Milwaukee Public Library is requesting an additional $348,659 as part of their $33.7 million dollar budget.
Mellissa Howard Director of Community Relations and Engagement for Milwaukee Public Library says while they may not have the largest budget in the city, thousands of city residents utilize their services everyday.
“We have a lot of after school programs for kids and teens to use as a safe space when they are done with classes for the day,” said Howard. “Keeping kids engaged with reading and getting and early literacy rate is one of our top priorities for us. Beyond books, kids can come in and learn new skills with other equipment that we have in the library system such as 3-D printers and other computer skills.”
Howard says it is still too early in the budget proposal process to worry about cuts to the public library system, but says that the department will be prepared for any cuts that may come their way.
Mayor Johnson’s office will submit the proposed city budget to Common Council members on September 23rd with the goal of being able to get a balanced budget finalized and sent to lawmakers in Madison by November 7th.
