Portland Ombudsman received 610 complaints against city in 2023
The Portland Bureau of Transportation received the highest percentage of complaints.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Portland Ombudsman's latest report shows residents and businesses filed 610 complaints against the city in 2023, up 12.5% from the previous year.
As part of the City Auditor’s Office, the ombudsman shared its annual review on complaints on Thursday. According to the report, complaints to the office rose from 542 in 2022 to 610 in 2023.
Of the 610 complaints, about 390 of them were within the ombudsman’s jurisdiction. Officials said the majority of the remaining complaints weren’t in their jurisdiction because they involved non-city issues.
There were also five complaints the office didn’t have the authority to review because they involved elected officials.
The ombudsman completed 34 investigations in 2023, which addressed about 9% of the jurisdictional complaints received.
“We do not have a specific number of investigations that we aim for, as it depends on the nature of the complaints we receive and whether a complaint cannot be resolved informally or raises broader systemic concerns, among other factors,” the Ombudsman’s Office said.
According to officials, 44% of the complaints were found to be substantiated. Another 29% were considered “unfounded,” while the remainder of cases didn’t contain enough evidence to support or refute the complaint.
Additionally, the office released three reviews on systemic issues to the public throughout 2023. The June review found that the Portland Police Bureau “failed to live up to its responsibilities in handling U visas,” while the July review found that a PPB-contracted company was overcharging residents for emergency board-up services.
The final review, released in August, determined the city violated state law and city policies when it seized and destroyed boats on public docks.
Overall, about 92% of last year’s complaints were filed by community members, while 4% were filed by City of Portland employees and 3% were filed by businesses.
The ombudsman report also shows that most complaints were made against six city bureaus. About 28% of the complaints involved the Portland Bureau of Transportation, while 19% involved the Office of Management and Finance, and 12% involved city police.
The other top bureaus for complaints were Portland Parks and Recreation, Development Services and the Water Bureau.