Overnight Hotline Fails to Use One-Time Dollars

In budget documents, the program offered a startling excuse.

Along West Burnside Street after dark. (Blake Benard)
By Sophie Peel

The city of Portland’s 311 program helps route non-emergency calls made by Portlanders to various city services that aren’t related to police or fire. In recent years, the City Council has aimed to offload a higher number of non-emergency calls to the program to lessen the burden on 911 call-takers.

Last year, the city allocated $521,000 in one-time dollars to staff an overnight shift at 311 for two years. But to date, the program hasn’t staffed the shift and has spent none of those dollars.

In budget documents, the program cited “hiring difficulties,” a common problem, and offered a more startling excuse: “the need to manage public expectations regarding a service that may be discontinued after one year.”

Office of Management & Finance spokeswoman Carrie Belding says the city doesn’t want to set “an expectation that [Portlanders] would reach a live-answer staff person overnight, and then discontinue overnight service and transfer many callers back to [the non-emergency] line.”

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.