William McConico, chief judge of Detroit’s 36th District Court, is lobbying the city to up the court’s budget by $1.8 million to add more staff for a “crashing” civil division, operating costs and a living wage for employees.
The judge made his case during a March 23 budget hearing before Detroit City Council. The court, one of the busiest in the country, is set to get $34,384,326 under Mayor Mary Sheffield’s budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year. That’s a 3% increase from the 2026 fiscal year.
McConico said the court is requesting about $300,000 – or about $60,000 per employee, including salary and benefits – to hire five new employees for its civil division to address an uptick in cases. The division has seen nearly 40,000 additional cases filed over the past three years that the court did not have in 2021 and 2022, McConico said. Cases include credit card companies suing residents and vehicle foreclosures, he said. The court doesn’t have the staff to handle the paperwork.
“We did not ask last year (2025-26) because we were hoping that there was going to be a decrease, but there was a 30% increase from that number where we were already, and the system is really crashing right now,” McConico said.
McConico also requested $500,000 so 73 court employees (including 43 Detroit residents), who earn below a living wage according to the court’s analysis, could be brought up to the new wage standard Mayor Mary Sheffield recently announced. Sheffield proposed a minimum wage increase to $21.45 an hour, or $44,616 a year, for full-time city of Detroit employees.
Meanwhile, a “specialty court” – focused on drug treatment, mental health, veterans’ treatment and an empowerment docket for women involved in sex trafficking or exploitation – has a federal funding gap of $500,000, McConico said on Monday. The day after, however, two major grants were released and the court plans to apply for them in April, McConico told BridgeDetroit on Thursday. If the court receives the money, the Detroit City Council will be notified and the court won’t use the requested funds, he said. But for now, the $500,000 request remains to run the specialty court.
Six case managers are over their maximum capacity, though need is rising, Judge Shannon Holmes, who presides over the specialty court division, told council members on Monday. The program has been forced to go into “pause mode” because of funding uncertainty, she said.
“There have been individuals who have not been able to access our services and certainly that’s not something that I enjoy doing, but it is just the current state of our program,” Holmes said.
Additional funding would be used for another case manager and tethers and drug testing for those who enter into the program.
McConico also requested $500,000 for the court’s general operating budget, including utilities and postage, citing “inflationary pressures that the court is under, which is impacting our day-to-day.”
He provided updates on the landlord-tenant division, which he said has “changed remarkably” over the years. Eviction cases have dropped from 31,000 filings a year to about 20,000. The city of Detroit’s Right to Counsel program has also ramped up legal representation for tenants.
“Because there’s a lawyer on each side, it’s a fair process,” he said.
The 36th District Court is offering an amnesty program once again, which waives late fees and penalties for cases where a judge has made a final ruling. The program is available through Thursday, April. 2. It brought in about $400,000 in two weeks, McConico said. An average ticket may have an additional $100 to $130 in late fees, fines and warrant costs.
“We decided to have the amnesty program this year based on the affordability challenges that are occurring in this country and obviously in the city of Detroit. Everything is more expensive,” McConico said.