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DOR administration reports process improvements, new internal controls and taxpayer advocate office; agency highlights audit progress
Summary
Deputy Director Satish Upadhyay told the subcommittee that administration functions have supported modernization, improved finance controls and expanded outreach; the department said it resolved 22 of 23 prior audit findings and launched an internal controls office and a taxpayer advocate office.
Satish Upadhyay, deputy director of the Oregon Department of Revenue, told the General Government Subcommittee on March 12 that the administration division has focused on process improvement, updated cost allocation work and bolstering internal controls.
Upadhyay said the division has held 15 process‑improvement workshops and mapped 137 agency processes in the current biennium; one example reduced business registration processing from 34 days to 2–3 days. He told the committee that the finance team now tracks 63 revenue sources and that the department handles approximately $45,000,000,000 in receipts and distributions.
Upadhyay said the department had 23 outstanding audit findings in 2017 and has resolved 22 of them; the remaining finding relates to cost allocation and the department is engaging a vendor to complete that work. The department also reported receiving a Chief Finance Officer gold‑star award from the Department of Administrative Services for excellence in financial reporting.
Upadhyay described new and existing administrative functions: an internal controls office (launched September 2022) to manage risk, IT security coordination and business continuity; and the Taxpayer Advocate’s Office (launched January 1, 2022) that serves as an internal voice for taxpayers and community organizations.
Human resources metrics were presented: the department’s employee turnover fell from 17% (2021) to 7% (2024), time to fill positions averaged 42 days in 2024, and the agency reported 56 vacancies out of roughly 1,000 positions as of January 31; long‑term vacancies (12 months or more) numbered 17 at year end, of which most were being held for personnel actions and two audit‑flagged tax auditor positions were filled the prior week.
Ending: Upadhyay closed by presenting the administration division’s budget figures (about $56,000,000 and 87.76 FTE for administration) and the department signaled readiness to provide follow‑up documentation on cost allocation and vacancy savings balances.
