ROCKFORD — A financial task force on Monday backed a home rule referendum and recommended 75 measures to help City Council close a projected $10.2 million deficit in the city's 2018 budget.

But if the home rule referemdum fails on March 20, the task force recommends that aldermen enact a utility tax on natural gas and electricity, said the group's chairwoman Michele Petrie, branch president of Wintrust Community Bank. Previously, a utility tax was estimated to generate more than $8.7 million, but has never been implemented because it is viewed as a regressive tax that could hit the poor the hardest.

The task force, which includes residents, business owners, financial experts, aldermen and union representatives, was appointed by Mayor Tom McNamara and the City Council to help confront a brewing financial crisis.

The group studied city finances extensively before coming up with the recommendations with the help of department heads and rank and file employees, Petrie said.

"We really pulled it apart," Petrie said.

The recommendations include items that have proved or could prove politically difficult for the City Council to approve such as landlord registration fees that opponents have called a "renter tax" because landlords might pass the fees on to renters, or charging a fee to inspect an obscure device that would prevent backflow of water from sprinkler systems.

Some highlights include:

• Prosecute low-level criminal offenses as ordinance violations, generating an estimated $187,000 a year.

• Charge an annual fee for landlords to register, generating $500,000 a year.

• Reduce public safety overtime costs, saving $400,000.

• Implement a storm-water maintenance fee, generating $500,000.

Petrie said some of the items, such as overtime reduction, could require further study to accomplish. And the recommendations come with a separate list of items of potential savings that weren't voted on that would be subject to negotiation with employee unions concerning concessions on health care, time off and wages.

Finance Director Carrie Eklund said City Council has hard choices ahead. She will soon bring packages of the items forward for aldermen to consider. She said some of the items could turn out to be very challenging, but the alternative would be cuts to city staff and services.

"The task force has come up with a list of suggestions that they feel are reasonable, achievable and something that from where they sit as members of this community they feel is acceptable," Eklund said.

Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey@rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey