Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- In a Columbia City Council work session on Wednesday, members heard the results and conclusions made in an efficiency assessment report conducted by a Houston based consulting firm.
EquaTerra prepared 42 "improvement initiatives" that, in theory, could save the city close to $12-million in the next fiscal year. The improvements and changes, according to the report, would cost the city more than $2-million.
Some of the initiatives include introducing a waste collection fee, creating or raising fees for certain fee services, implementing online billing for some services, and reducing administrative personnel by 25%.
Click here to see the full, 42 line item report.
City Councilman Daniel Rickenmann is skeptical of the numbers.
"We've got to be careful here, because what's reported may not actually come true," he said during the presentation.
For instance, the report shows that reducing overtime for city employees would create a one year savings of more than $500,000. However, that's dependent on a 34% decrease in overtime.
EquaTerra says the dollar amounts are just potential projections, not a factual representation of what will be saved in the upcoming year.