Portland is a Sanctuary City

Learn more.

News

Displaying 1 - 20 of 43

Poor contract planning by City Operations resulted in waste and inefficiency

Fraud Hotline
Report
The Auditor’s Office found evidence of waste and inefficiency in City Operations’ hiring of contractors as temporary staff. The City paid $650,000 in general fund dollars to contractors that did not have the expertise to complete the intended, urgent work and the work was delayed by a year.

Emergency Communications has dramatically improved 911 staffing and call wait times; further efforts could help avoid setbacks

Audit Services
Report
Bureau of Emergency Communications’ efforts to recruit, hire, and train employees helped address the Bureau’s staffing crisis and reduce 911 wait times. We make recommendations to help improve training timelines, increase trainee retention, and reduce resistance to training program changes.

Arts Tax: City needs to make improvements to deliver on voter approved arts education and grants commitments

Audit Services
Report
The Arts Tax has expanded arts education and supports arts organizations, but the City has not consistently delivered on promises to voters. We recommend the City improve education coordination, maximize grant funds, ensure grants advance program goals, and enhance oversight.

Climate Justice: Clear direction, strategies, and transparency needed to follow through on the City’s climate commitments

Audit Services
Report
The City has committed to climate justice, but work remains to make climate actions more effective. Our audit recommends City leadership provide clearer internal direction, develop strategies for climate adaptation and community engagement, and increase transparency to follow through on commitments.

Portland City Auditor hires new Business Operations Manager

Auditor's Office
Press release
The City Auditor’s Office announced today that Rosie McGown has been selected to serve as the new Business Operations Manager.

Parks Fiscal Management: Systemwide goals and sustainability strategies needed to ensure parks for future generations

Audit Services
Report
Parks does not have enough resources for its existing programs and maintenance obligations. However, it continues to invest in new assets. Our audit recommends that Parks integrate new investment decisions with existing maintenance obligations and clearly communicate fiscal strategies.

Portland City Auditor hires new Chief Hearings Officer

Auditor's Office
Press release
The City Auditor’s Office announced today that Charles Koutras is the City’s new Chief Hearings Officer.

Portland City Auditor hires new General Counsel

Auditor's Office
Press release
The City Auditor announced today that P.K. Runkles-Pearson is the Office’s new independent legal counsel.

City Auditor announces audit schedule for fiscal year 2025-26

Auditor's Office
Press release
City Auditor Simone Rede released the list of audits her Office plans to begin or complete in the coming fiscal year. Special thanks to the community members, City employees and City officials who shared audit topic ideas.

Help us decide what to audit next

Audit Services
Blog post
Community members and City employees can help shape our audit priorities for the coming year.

Asset Management: Strategic and coordinated approach needed to take on City’s long-standing issues

Audit Services
Report
For years, the City has underinvested in maintaining its aging assets. Now, it is facing a backlog of costly and urgent needs that it lacks the funding to meet. Our audit recommends that the new form of government take a more strategic approach to developing the infrastructure for infrastructure.

City should re-start paused Portland International Raceway-North Portland Trust Fund grant program

Fraud Hotline
Report
A recent hotline investigation found inefficiency and waste in the City’s failure to award grants from Portland International Raceway–North Portland Trust Fund. The City has not awarded grants from the Fund since 2020.

Civic Life’s response to grantee non-compliance and poor communication within the City resulted in waste and inefficiency

Fraud Hotline
Report
The Auditor’s Office found evidence of waste and inefficiency in Civic Life’s handling of a grant non-compliance issue and the City’s grant management. Civic Life spent more money than intended and disregarded City policy and the City did not foster communication between bureaus.

Vision Zero: Portland Bureau of Transportation needs to systematically evaluate whether its safety projects reduce traffic deaths and serious injury crashes

Audit Services
Report
Our audit of Vision Zero found rising fatal crashes despite the plan’s focus on traffic safety. The audit calls on the Transportation Bureau to evaluate completed projects to ensure they reduce deaths and injuries and result in equitable outcomes. Data-driven strategies are needed for safer streets.

Auditors pass peer review

Audit Services
Blog post
Learn more about the recent “Audit of the auditors”

Inclusionary Housing: Housing Bureau should improve Program goals, support for property owners, and monitoring to ensure Program helps address housing crisis

Audit Services
Report
Updated
The Inclusionary Housing Program requires developers to include affordable homes in some new buildings. We examined the Program and if it helped property owners follow the rules. The Housing Bureau should improve the goals, property owner support, and monitoring so the Program works as intended.

Joint Office of Homeless Services: Sustained focus on shelter system needed to address unmet needs

Audit Services
Report
Our audit found that the adult and family shelters funded by the Joint Office of Homeless Services were generally full and had long waitlists, could be difficult to access, and only sometimes helped participants move to permanent housing.

Help us choose what to audit!

Audit Services
News article
Every year, we pick about five areas of the City of Portland to audit. We'd love to hear your ideas on how we can make Portland work better for everyone.

Fraud Hotline Report: Civic Life’s mismanagement of the Kenton Firehouse was wasteful and inefficient

Fraud Hotline
Report
The Auditor's Office found evidence of waste and inefficiency due to the lack of a formal agreement and Civic Life bypassing City financial policies in the management of the Kenton Firehouse. Auditors also found that the lack of documented rental transactions risked the appearance of fraud.

Fraud Hotline Update: Joint Office of Homeless Services contract managers have more training and tools, but some role conflicts have not been addressed

Fraud Hotline
News article
Contract managers receive more training and guidance, but the Joint Office does not plan to separate duties as recommended.
Subscribe to News

Filters

Filter by year

Filter by type

Filter by topic

See something we could improve on this page? Give website feedback.

Back to top