Why it matters: Austin's 311 system logged 2,240 open (unresolved) service requests in the week of March 30 — nearly 8 times the 12-week average of 282. At the same time, closed requests dropped 26% below their normal rate. Requests are coming in faster than the city is resolving them, and one department is driving most of the pile-up.

What the data shows: Of the 6,007 open 311 requests logged since January 1, Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) owns 1,780 — nearly 30% of the entire backlog. The top unresolved request types are code officer complaints (996 open), vehicle abatement reports (662 open), bulk trash pickups (662 open), and compost requests (456 open). Austin Development Services is second with 1,216 open requests; Austin Transportation and Public Works has 806. The pattern isn't a one-week blip — open requests have been climbing steadily since early March, from 274 the week of March 2 to 373, then 530, then 930, then 2,240.

The bigger picture: The monthly open-request count for March hit 2,615 — more than six times the six-month average of 425. January and February were already running above normal (616 and 695 open respectively), suggesting the backlog started building before spring yard waste season hit. The city's duplicate-closure rate also collapsed — from a 12-week average of 187 per week to just 55 in the most recent week — which means fewer requests are being flagged as duplicates and more are sitting in the queue as genuine unresolved cases.

The Bottom Line: Austin's 311 queue is backing up in a way that hasn't happened in at least a year, and Austin Resource Recovery — the department responsible for your trash, compost, and bulk pickup — is at the center of it.