Crowley’s New Budget Director Aces First Confirmation Hearing

Acting Budget Director Nick Sinram (left) alongside County Executive David Crowley. Screenshot from county meeting livestream.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley‘s choice to lead the county budget office cleared his first confirmation hearing Thursday.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors‘ Committee on Health, Equity, Human Services and Strategic Planning unanimously recommended the Nick Sinram‘s appointment as Director of the Office of Strategy, Budget and Performance. Sinram is currently acting director of the office.

Sinram was previously director of the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) budget office. The school district’s recent financial scandals were a source of concern for county supervisors, who will have to approve his appointment and who have recently gone through a budget scandal with the Milwaukee County Transit System and a difficult 2026 budget process that ended with major cuts to transit and the county’s substance abuse treatment.

Crowley personally lobbied for Sinram’s appointment Thursday, recasting his experience at MPS as a credit, not a flaw.

“I selected Nick for this role because I’ve seen firsthand how his experience has prepared him to lead through exactly the kind of fiscal challenges Milwaukee County faces today, and as we look ahead to this budget cycle and beyond, we know difficult decisions will need to be made,” Crowley said. “Nick has spent his career navigating complex budgets, balancing competing priorities, and helping public institutions deliver results while maintaining fiscal responsibility.”

Sinram graduated from Marquette University Law School in 2015 and went to work for the state Workers’ Compensation Division. A year later, he moved to the City of Milwaukee Budget and Management Division, then to the City Attorney’s Office in 2021. He became director of the MPS Department of Financial Planning and Budget Services in 2023.

At the school district, Sinram told supervisors Thursday, he helped rebuild the district’s budget team that oversaw development of a $1.48 billion budget, roughly equal to the annual county budget, covering more than 9,000 employees and 60,000 students.

“I have dedicated my career to public service with a focus on local government budgeting, financial planning, and public policy,” Sinram said. “Professionally, I have specialized in helping large public sector organizations navigate complex financial challenges.”

During his tenure at MPS, the district ran a $46 million deficit and missed financial reporting deadlines from the state Department of Public Instruction. Sinram said the reporting failures occurred shortly after his first year with the district. “We learned that the district’s financial systems were unable to provide the complex data needed for timely and accurate reporting and auditing,” he said.

The state imposed a corrective action plan, one he was tasked to implement on the budget side. The experience taught him the value of transparency, strong financial systems and honesty about the challenges facing an organization, he told supervisors.

“This administration and this board have already made difficult decisions to reduce expenditures to the point that 74% of the county’s tax levy now supports mandatory services and unfunded state mandates,” adding that it would not be prudent for me to speak to the specifics of the 2027 budget before the process has played out,” Sinram said. “If confirmed, my role will be to support that process with objective analysis, clear information, responsible recommendations and respect for the role of this legislative body.”

Sinram received glowing references from 13 former colleagues, the majority of them from his time at MPS. Sup. Shawn Rolland, who chairs the strategy committee, said he was initially “very skeptical” when he learned the county was hiring MPS’s former budget director. But he has since become “impressed” by Sinram and said one of his references, in particular, played a role.

It was the words offered by Todd Gray, a former Waukesha School District superintendent who was hired as MPS’s interim chief financial officer to help the district get its finances in order.

Gray characterized Sinram as professional and hardworking, and said he was one of the first directors “to embrace the needed plan to change in the district’s accounting system” and that he “created an incredibly impressive and transparent district budget.” Gray would hire Sinram himself if he were still leading a district, he said.

“As to the reported budget deficit… I don’t believe the issue was a budget development issue as much as a spending, accounting and tracking issue, which are divisions Nick had no control over,” Gray wrote. “You can create the world’s best budget, but if the spenders don’t adhere to it, it goes into deficit.”

Sup. Caroline Gómez-Tom acknowledged that the county’s own financial situation makes the job he’s up for “not necessarily something that someone would run to do.” She asked him what he views as the county’s biggest challenge.

Sinram responded that finding a way to maintain the county’s critical services will be the county’s biggest challenge. He will look for efficiency wherever possible, but lobbying the state for greater funding will be critical, he said.

County policymakers had to close a $47 million budget deficit in 2026. In May, the Office of the Comptroller reported the county is projected to face a $50.9 million budget deficit in 2027, and by 2031 a $168.7 million deficit.

“Yes, it is daunting, and I kind of wonder if [Sinram] is not a person who likes torture, because here he is, he’s been at MPS, and he’s been at the City of Milwaukee and it’s like he seeks out difficult things to do,” Sup. Felesia Martin said.

Sup. Kathleen Vincent asked Sinram to share what he learned from his time at MPS, explaining that she has constituents who are concerned by his having worked there.

“The critical need for oversharing,” he said. “Being transparent, the access to live dashboards, so that you provide tools to you all as supervisors to be able to do your job and assure accountability and assure services remain fully funded.”

Sup. Leevan Roundtree Jr. asked Sinram what one of his primary goals for the coming year was.

Lobbying for additional funding for transit, Sinram replied, “so that we can fund and continue the transportation services that help Milwaukee County residents get to work, work, live, and play.”