Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Finance & Personnel Committee held a full-day budget hearing regarding the proposed 2027 operating budget for the City of Milwaukee on October 12, 2026. The committee heard presentations from and questioned representatives from four departments: the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), the Department of Emergency Communications (DEC), the Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD), and the Fire and Police Commission (FPC). The meeting featured extensive discussion on staffing shortages, technology adoption and public trust, fleet replacement, and recruitment strategies. No formal approvals were granted; the communication from the mayor was held to the call of the chair.
Chairwoman here. Joined by my Vice Chairman Alderman Peter Bergellis. Alderman Scott Spiker is here. Alder Woman Melee Lake Hoggs as well as Alder Woman Charlene Moore. That provides us a quorum to conduct our meeting today on Monday, October 12th, 2026. We are continuing our third week of budget hearings. This is a full week, and we have a full day ahead of us. So with item number one, it is 26001 communication from the mayor relating to the proposed 2027 budget. We have four areas to cover today, and we're joined by our budget department comptroller's office. We want to thank our legislative reference bureau. And of course, we have to now in the middle of this all thank Mr. Chris Lee who's been keeping us on task. So thank you so much. Before I get down to the business, a few announcements. Please join us this Saturday at 9 30. Um perhaps people will be out uh participating in the No Kings events. Um that'll likely be after our budget hearing, and that is at 9 30 at the Mitchell Street Library, 9 30 to 11. You can join us in person or virtually because we do want to make sure every voice is heard. Four departments will be up today. Beginning now, we'll begin with police department, department of emergency communications will follow. Then we'll possibly break slightly or just continue through if need be. Around 1 p.m. We'll begin with the fire department, and we'll conclude with the fire and police commission. With that, I'll now call on the police department. Good morning to you all. Please come on up and we'll get started. We always get started with the budget uh director first. I give a brief presentation, and then we go to you, but please join us. And with that, we'll go to Director Nick Kovac. Uh good morning, Madam Chair, committee members, Nick Kovac, Director of the Budget Management Division. I'll be turning it over to Tyler Caligaro who will be giving you his thoughts on the Packers and Bruce names this weekend. And then it's got a few slides on the police department as well. Much more material on that. But Tyler Caligaro Budget and Management Division. Uh here today to present to you the 2027 Milwaukee Police Department proposed budget. I'm gonna start off here with the 27th budget summary. As you can see, there was a about $34 million increase across the board expenditures in 27 proposed budget. That's an 11% increase. Um I'll go over the details of that in the following slides, but as you can see, they are all salary and fringe benefit related. Uh moving on into salaries and positions. Um, as I just stated, there's a 24 million dollar increase in salaries. Um that has to do with for the most part the um contract, the new contract that was passed last year that wasn't in the last budget, but it is in this one. On top of that, there was the three percent COLA that was applied to civilian positions. Um as you can see, there's some FTE and position changes there. Uh for the most part, the positions changes, uh, 50 of those 59 are police officers that are attached to the 25 COPS grant. Um, there are a few other positions, such as um attic six forensic print examiners, um, to name uh few. Uh let's see.