Wisconsin plans to use about $26 million of its $140 million share of a national mortgage settlement to help plug the state's budget hole — a move Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Friday called "unconscionable."

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's office made the decision in consultation with Gov. Scott Walker to use most of the $31.6 million paid directly to the state to balance the budget rather than to help the thousands of Wisconsin residents who have lost their homes to fraudulent mortgage practices.

Local homeowner advocates also were reeling from the decision Friday. "I'm disappointed that the much-needed funds will not be used as intended for programs that are on the front lines, working with homeowners who are trying to save their homes from foreclosure," said Ellen Bernards, a nonprofit financial educator and co-chair of the Dane County Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce.

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"This is money that clearly was intended for families and neighborhoods devastated by this foreclosure crisis," Barrett said. "These are families that were victims of a bait and switch, and what the governor and attorney general are doing is their own bait and switch."