The City of Portland Auditor’s Office has harshly criticized a city bureau’s oversight of Portland International Raceway’s North Portland Trust Fund. The auditor said “inefficiency and waste” has prevented distribution of at least $45,782 in grants to community groups between 2022 and 2024.
The investigation came after a tip to the Auditor’s Office’s Fraud Hotline. The inquiry did not find evidence of “missing or misused funds,” but faulted the City’s Office of Community & Civic Life (OCCL) for “poor management.” It also stated “this inefficiency and waste had an identifiable and material effect on the North Portland neighborhoods that have been impacted by the Raceway.”
Photo by PP&R.
The city established the PIR North Portland Trust Fund in 1989 to help mitigate the racetrack’s negative impacts, such as noise, on nearby North Portland neighborhoods including Kenton, Portsmouth, and Arbor Lodge.
The trust fund collects fees from promoters of NASCAR and IndyCar racing events that create additional noise and require a noise variance.
The fees enable the Trust Fund to award small grants to community groups in North Portland with an annual allocation of $35,000.
Management of the trust fund has historically involved both Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) and the Civic Life.
The auditor’s report showed that PP&R paused the program in 2020 after COVID canceled much of the 2020 and 2021 racing seasons.
PP&R and Civic Life began discussions in July 2023 about restarting the grant program, but Civic Life administrators said they had lost staff, and employees who administered the program had retired or been reassigned. Civic Life claimed that the monies the city gave them to administer the trust Fund, did not fully cover their cost to run the program.
Yet the investigation showed the city paid Civic Life $45,782 in grant administration fees between 2022 and 2024, while Life awarded no grants to community groups.
The report recommended the city begin requiring that PP&R manage the trust Fund to ensure annual grant disbursements. Deputy City Administrator for Vibrant Communities Sonia Schmanski, who oversees PP&R and Civic Life, told the Auditor’s Office she supports that recommendation.
Meanwhile, some North Portland neighborhood activists are smoking angry that the report concluded that Civic Life could have dispersed grants for the last three years but did not. The Kenton Neighborhood Association Board is currently debating about a response to the city council and the mayor’s office.
In related news, the city’s Noise Review Board approved its PIR subcommittee’s recommendations for a new, independent noise study on the raceway. However, because of the city’s current $91 million deficit, finding the funding is expected to be difficult.