Milwaukee County Discovers .56 Million Budget Error Due to Formula Mistake

Milwaukee County Discovers $4.56 Million Budget Error Due to Formula Mistake

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Milwaukee County’s proposed 2027 budget is short $4.56 million because of an automated calculation error, officials disclosed Wednesday, one day after County Executive David Crowley was elected governor of Wisconsin. The gap, caused when positive and negative signs were reversed on two airport-related entries, was laid out in a Nov. 4 memo to County Board leaders ahead of a Thursday vote on the spending plan, WISN 12 News reported.

The error sits in a process the county recently automated: allocating equipment purchases and depreciation. A $4.49 million depreciation contribution and $2.21 million in airport revenue were entered with their signs flipped, turning expected savings into a hole. FOX6 Milwaukee first reported the memo, noting the discovery came in a formula that had previously been calculated by hand.

What the Memo Says and Who Is Fixing It

County Executive Crowley’s office says the Office of Strategy, Budget and Performance moved quickly once the mistake surfaced. A spokesperson told FOX6: “County Executive Crowley is aware of an error discovered in an automated formula used to calculate one aspect of the budget, a process previously done manually. Once identified, the Office of Strategy, Budget and Performance acted immediately to create a solution and correct the formula to prevent a recurrence. The County Executive is confident the issue is resolved and that Milwaukee County will end 2027 with a balanced budget.”

Milwaukee County discloses budget error after Crowley elected governor

The same spokesperson told WISN the office “acted immediately” to correct the issue and prevent it from happening again. To cover the $4.56 million, the budget office and the county comptroller have lined up possible offsets: additional prescription drug rebates, cash left over in capital projects scheduled to close in 2027, and savings or surpluses found through ongoing monitoring of departmental operating budgets. The memo does not say how much each option would contribute. The administration plans to offset the gap during 2027 and bring a fund transfer to the board for approval by the end of March.

Why It Surfaced Now

The timing has drawn immediate questions. The news broke the day after Crowley won the governor’s race, and FOX6 asked why the discovery was only being released now. The county said it took time to figure out what went wrong and to come up with solutions to fill the gap, and that the memo’s timing was dictated by the upcoming budget meeting, not the election. WISN reached out to governor-elect Crowley’s campaign for comment; the campaign declined.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley gives 2027 budget address
Photo: wisn.com

For Milwaukee County taxpayers and the county workers whose departments may absorb the gap, the stakes are concrete: a mid-single-digit-million-dollar shortfall in a budget that was supposed to be balanced, discovered after an election and days before a board vote. Whether the offsets hold will determine if 2027 really ends balanced, as the county executive’s office promises, or whether deeper cuts land later.

What is not yet known is how much each offset will actually deliver, and whether the board will accept the fix on Thursday. The campaign that will soon run the state has not answered questions about the error.

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