An audit by the city comptroller’s office shows the number of pest complaints including rat problems jumped by more than 2,000.

The report says the number of complaints to the city’s 311 hotline and online went from 22,300 in fiscal year 2012 to 24,586 the next year.

According to the Daily News of New York, Comptroller Scott Stringer says health inspectors didn’t follow through on protocols to combat the problem. In 160 cases, no field inspection was conducted. Stringer says the health department isn’t managing the problem effectively.

A health department spokesman says the agency “strongly disagrees” with the audit, and the agency also takes a proactive response to exterminating rats in the city.

(AP)