Audit: Portland skipped safeguards to get virus grants out
May 12, 2021
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) A city audit has found that Portland failed to create a fair and transparent grant selection process, interpreted eligibility criteria loosely and didn’t protect against misuse of funds in their haste to get pandemic relief money to small businesses.
The audit released Wednesday evaluated the success of Prosper Portland’s Small Business Relief Fund, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
The fund provided $12.4 million in city and federal dollars to 1,209 small businesses during two rounds of funding last year. The money supported about 9% of the nearly 13,000 businesses that applied for relief.
Portland failed to create a fair and transparent grant selection process, interpreted eligibility criteria generously and didn’t protect against misuse of funds in a rush to get relief money to small businesses in need during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic last year, according to a city audit.
Portland Business Alliance contests 23 of 25 lobbying violations found by city auditor
Updated May 10, 5:31 PM;
Posted May 10, 5:29 PM
Portland City Hall.Michelle Brence/Staff (file)
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The Portland area’s most influential business organization is contesting broad swaths of a review by the city auditor’s office that found it repeatedly violated city lobbying rules last year.
The auditor’s office declared two weeks ago that the Portland Business Alliance failed to disclose at least 25 times it had contacted city officials in 2020 to request access, funding or action, primarily by email.
But the alliance shot back Monday that 23 of the unreported emails and other interactions with officials did not need to be reported to the city because they didn’t meet the city’s definition of lobbying.
City budget goes from rags to riches May 05 2021
The City Council is already scheduled to spending hundreds of millions of additional dollars after the next budget is approved on May 13.
The Portland City Council is scheduled to adopt some version of Mayor Ted Wheeler s proposed $5.7 billion budget for the next fiscal year on May 13.
However, the council will continue spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new and expanded services into 2022. It is already set to spend an additional $80 million as soon as July 1.
The largesse is a dramatic turnaround from a budget that had been expected to see significant cuts, just a few months ago.
HUD dismisses developer's discrimination complaint against Prosper Portland bizjournals.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bizjournals.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.