Portland City Auditor Simone Rede has a broad scope of work, encompassing performance audits of City operations, the City’s Fraud Hotline, the City Elections Division, and the City Archives, in service of the Auditor’s Office is to ensure open and accountable government.
Practically speaking, the Auditor’s duties focus on ensuring access to public information and reinforcing the expectation that all City officials and staff uphold the highest standards of ethical and legal behavior.
In a September 5 conversation with OPB’s Portland city politics reporter Alex Zielinski, Auditor Rede highlighted several examples of work by her office that Portlanders may have encountered without realizing it, and explained how they can continue to engage with and inform it.
For those who couldn’t attend, below are five key takeaways. The full event recording is available on our YouTube channel.
- Community members help shape audit priorities for the coming year. The Auditor’s office solicited suggestions for topics via a community survey in May 2025 and the audit schedule for fiscal year 2025-26 was announced in June 2025.
- The Parks & Recreation’s Fiscal Management audit is underway and the report is expected in October 2025, ahead of the Parks Levy Ballot Initiative going to voters in November.
- The City Elections Division, part of the Auditor’s Office, certifies City candidates and measures for the ballot, conducts voter education on Portland’s ranked-choice voting, and certifies election results. To reduce the number of non-serious candidates and the associated administrative burden, the division is planning to increase the filing fee and is seeking public feedback on three policy options via this survey, which closes September 15. Take the survey >>
- The Auditor has no enforcement power except for campaign finance regulations. Auditor Rede recently changed the schedule the office uses to follow up on audit recommendations. It used to be standalone reports at the one- and two-year marks, but now they follow up annually on recommendations that have been outstanding over the past five years.
- The Auditor’s office budget comes from the city’s general fund and does not receive federal grants, so federal executive orders do not restrict its funding. The office remains committed to engaging diverse people in its work and is confident in justifying that investment as a data-driven decision. However, it experienced city budget cuts this year and had to lay off a staff member.
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