The office's workload had also been increased by about 270 complaints stemming from quake victims' dealings with the Earthquake Commission and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
Ms Wakem also expected public sector reforms would likely increase workload, particularly where back of house support services or complaints processes for individual agencies were amalgamated.
The office, she said, was "sinking under the weight of the complaint burden.
"I'd say we are in crisis."
The repercussions for the public would be delays in handling complaints
"At the end of the day that isn't acceptable. Justice delayed is justice denied and people are already distressed when they approach the office."
Ms Wakem said she had asked for the office's baseline budget to be increased from its current level of $8.6 million by about $1 million, which would allow it to meet its operating costs and employ two more investigators.
While she recognised the Government was requiring all of the departments and agencies it funded to do more with less, Ms Wakem said starving her office of the funding it required was a false economy as it played a central role in ensuring government spending was of high quality.