An advisory panel has given Butler City Council its ideas for improving the city’s financial standing.

In its presentation Thursday night, the task force said city expenses have exceeded revenue in the past several years, including in the proposed 2011 budget, where revenues are expected to increase 3 percent to $6.76 million, while expenses will go up 8 percent to $7.28 million.

The task force said the city should:

• Implement a three- to five-year financial recovery plan.

• Update a 2006 study that suggested downsizing the police and fire departments.

• Create a city manager-council form of government instead of the current mayor system.

• Reduce the 7-mill tax on gross income earned by businesses in the city, the source of about $994,000 in city revenue per year.

• Hire a good public labor law counsel because the city’s contracts with the unions representing fire, police and municipal employees expire at the end of 2011.

• Eliminate redundant street lights on Main Street.

• Verify both the fire hydrant count with Pennsylvania American Water, and the liquid fuel mileage calculations with PennDOT. The city’s cost for the fire hydrants is $70,000 a year from Pennsylvania American Water.

• Do a full review of the city’s insurance services.

• Evaluate ways to reduce costs and increase revenues through better parking meter technology.

“You can be sure we will look at these very seriously,” said city Councilman Richard Schontz Jr.