PROVIDENCE — The City Council is expected to unveil tonight a slate of changes to the mayor’s budget plan, including what will probably be an increase in the final tax rate.

At the same time, it appears that a plan to reconsider the size of the City Council will not be up for consideration tonight and will have wait until after the budget cycle, effectively dooming the proposal for this year.

Council leaders have been meeting behind closed doors for weeks with members of Mayor David N. Cicilline’s top staff, discussing their differences over Cicilline’s $636.2-million budget proposal. It would raise the tax levy by 3.75 percent and count on new fees for sewer use and garbage pickup, issues that have drawn concern from council members.

“There will be a resolution on those issues,” said Council Finance Committee Chairman John J. Igliozzi.

The tax levy for the current fiscal year must be set by July 31 under state law. The budget is scheduled for first passage on Monday night, and second passage on Thursday night, the 31st.

The council’s biggest concern is the revenue side of Cicilline’s budget. Beyond assuming $5.5 million in garbage collection fines and $1 million in sewer fees, the mayor’s budget also counts on the city saving $1 million by no longer having to pay rental fees for fire hydrants. The bill removing that requirement passed the General Assembly, but was vetoed by Governor Carcieri.

“There is also concern that the meals tax revenue is down,” Igliozzi said, referring to the tax the city receives on restaurant visits.

Although it is not known what the council’s plans are for a final tax rate, an increase seems likely.

“The council and the administration, we’ve been working very hard trying to come up with a financially responsible budget,” Igliozzi said. “The council is extremely aware of the financial concerns that the people of Providence are having.”

One issue has been settled: the Providence External Review Authority, the police watchdog agency removed in the mayor’s budget, has been restored, Council Majority Leader Terrence M. Hassett said.

Cicilline had proposed merging PERA with the Human Relations Commission. Now, the council seems set on keeping a sleeker PERA alive, while potentially removing the Human Relations Commission. PERA investigates citizen complaints against the Police Department.

Hassett said that PERA has been ineffective, partially as a result of its large membership; as a condition of its continued existence, the 20-member board will be pared down dramatically in size.

“The mission of PERA has been lost in a bureaucratic scramble,” Hassett said. “We will seek to fund a reorganized agency that is efficient, determined and able to fulfill its obligation to the City Council and our citizens.”

The ordinance authorizing PERA may be further altered to implement a reporting schedule to the City Council, an office relocation and a specific mission statement.

Conspicuously absent from tomorrow night’s deliberations is any discussion of changes to the composition of the City Council. A group of advocates have been pushing a plan to replace 3 of the council’s 15 ward-based members with at-large councilors elected by the entire city. A public hearing on the subject Monday brought out 60 people and heated debate from both sides, but it appears that the item will not be discussed until after the budget is passed next week, according to Council Ordinance Committee Chairman Michael Solomon.

That effectively kills the ordinance for this year. Any change to the composition of the council must be passed by the voters of the city, and the soonest opportunity to do so is the November presidential election. To get on the ballot, the City Council would have had to pass a resolution and forward it to the state by Aug. 6, the last day for communities to get initiatives on the ballot.

If discussion is delayed until after the passage of the budget next week, it seems unlikely that the resolution could receive two passages by Aug. 6.

dbarbari@projo.com