Multiple councillors say now is not the right time for a wide-ranging search for improvements.

A group of 55 members of the public had petitioned the council to find improvements in council operations.

Council staff had opposed the push, telling elected officials the review would double up on work currently done by other groups including the city's own audit and risk committee.

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Staff also warned that the review would cost a minimum $500,000, with no clear idea of indirect costs from staff participating in, and implementing, review recommendations.

The review was inspired by a previous independent inquiry the council ran in 2013, which took four months and led to 69 recommendations across 10 areas.

It cost $2.37 million to run and allowed the council to save $6.6 million a year.

Council staff said that circumstances were different in 2013.

Government agencies had not yet intensified their scrutiny of Victoria's councils and the state had not yet updated the Local Government Act, or brought in a cap on yearly rate rises that forced operational savings.

Cr Rod Fyffe said the council needed to see how the act played out before another review.

He noted many of the extensive reforms connected to the new laws were still being implemented across the state, including in Greater Bendigo.

"All of us want to do the best by our great city," he said.

"A review is certainly to be applauded, but not at this time."

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Cr Matthew Evans agreed.

"I believe it is important that the community has confidence that their rates are being spent efficiently and accordingly," he said.

Two elections - one state and one federal - are expected this year and Cr Evans feared an independent review could become a distraction.

"The city's focus should be on advocating for our community to secure funding for ... projects and issues," he said.

Cr Greg Penna believed petitioners and councillors should delay any independent review until a later date, given its likely impact on council budgets.

Cr Margaret O'Rourke played a leading role in the 2013 review, back before she was elected to public office.

"I saw firsthand the positives and negatives of the approach," she said.

Cr O'Rourke said the last review was comprehensive though at times its scope creeped too wide.

She said that by the time the review finished it was clear that the $250,000 set aside for consultants had not been enough.

It was one reason she doubted the $500,000 estimate for a new review's consultants would be enough.

Cr O'Rourke also had concerns about the format that petitioners wanted to use, which she said had contained flaws that would need to be addressed before any review could take place.

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