UNDATED - Efficiency.

It’s become a bit of a buzz-word this year, thanks in no small part to Elon Musk’s DOGE and their drastic cuts to federal spending.

But high-ranking officials in Nebraska are awaiting a report they say will create more efficiency in state government.

A Utah-based consulting firm named Epiphany is in the second year of a 4-year, $10 million contract with the state of Nebraska to identify ways to save money.

Their first report - released last July - identified what they said was over a half-billion dollars in potential government savings.

State Treasurer Tom Briese says that those cutback are designed to avoid affecting Nebraskans negatively.

“[Epiphany] clearly indicated that they are not going to jeopardize services with what they recommend,” Briese said in an interview with News Channel Nebraska. “The maintenance of existing services, or improving or providing additional services is important to them. They have assured us that what they’re looking at will not impact services. I think all of us agree that we don’t want to negatively affect the types of services that we provide to Nebraskans.”

Governor Jim Pillen has applied some of Epiphany’s recommendations this year.

He’s directed state agencies to look for more federal funds, eliminated hundreds of unfilled state-level positions, and this year threw his support behind Plymouth Senator Tom Brandt’s bill that would merge the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environment and Energy into one combined entity.

Briese says these are steps that can help Nebraska navigate a potential nine-figure budget shortfall.

“Some would suggest that we have a structural problem with our budget when you look at the revenue versus the appropriations,” Briese said. “Generally an efficiency review can find between 4-6% in savings in a state’s general fund budget. In Nebraska’s case that could be $300-$400 million per year. That additional savings every year would help with this potential structural problem that we have with our budget.”

Briese introduced the measure that ultimately led to Epiphany’s hiring while he was still a state senator in 2023.

He says the state is expecting the second report soon, but didn’t have an exact date.