In a surprise move today, the Senate rejected a $700,000 request by Gov. Bill Ritter to hire a government-efficiency consultant.

The request is part of Ritter’s proposal from his State of the State address to conduct a thorough “Government Efficiency and Management Performance Review,” or GEM study. The purpose of the study is to “find areas that can be streamlined, made more efficient and when appropriate, eliminated.”

The governor asked the House of Representatives to attach an extra $700,000 to his budget for the current fiscal year so that a consultant could be hired to begin planning the study. The House added the money, which then required Senate approval.

“The JBC (Joint Budget Committee) looked at this, and our staff recommended against it,” said Sen. Steve Johnson, a Republican from Fort Collins and member of the legislature’s powerful budget panel. “It’s an eleventh-hour amendment for an undefined project, and doing this in the name of ‘efficiency’ makes it hard to keep a straight face.”

Johnson pointed out that the previous governor, Bill Owens, conducted an identical study upon taking office and then guided state agencies through a series of across-the-board budget cuts during fiscal shortfalls.

“It doesn’t seem like there's a lot of ground left to cover,” added Johnson. “Without knowing how much it'll cost and how we're going to quantify savings, I’m just not sure we should be paying for this.”

After waiting for over a week to take up the proposal, the Senate unanimously rejected the new spending request, saying that the governor would have to come back with a separate bill and go through the proper procedure for starting a new program.

“Our hope is to take this off of the rest of the Governor’s supplemental bill, and carry this particular item as a separate bill, so it can have its due debate and review by this chamber,” said Sen. Abel Tapia, a Pueblo Democrat and the Legislature’s budget chief.

“I'm certainly in favor saving taxpayer money anyway we can,” added Johnson. “But without knowing the scope or cost of the proposal, I'm not sure what would be gained – or lost.”