PATTERSON — The City Council held a special meeting on Thursday concerning finances.

Representatives from Government Consultants of Louisiana provided information about their investment advising services for municipalities.

The group is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer advice concerning the issuance of municipal securities, investment of the proceeds of municipal securities, guaranteed investment contracts, recommendation and brokerage of municipal escrow investments, advice concerning the use of municipal derivatives and preparation of feasibility studies, tax or revenue projections or similar production in connection with offering or potential offerings of municipal securities, according to www.sec.gov.

“I think it’s the way that everybody is going to have to go sooner or later. We’re going to have to find someone to steer us in the right direction. If we get off-path, these guys, I think, will get us back on, being financial planners and having that kind of knowledge. I think it will greatly benefit us later on,” Councilman John Rentrop said.

The council passed a resolution to modify city law to conform to Section 218 of the Social Security Act. The City of Patterson was contacted by the Internal Revenue Service to make the modification. The conflict with federal law goes back to 1953.

The amendment states “that elected officials from the city of Patterson would not be subject to the Social Security Act,” City Clerk Pamela Washington said.

The council submitted the 2011-12 operating and capital outlay budgets that will be adopted during an Aug. 2 meeting.

The main differences between the 2011-12 budget and the 2010-11 budget are a decrease in intergovernmental revenue, from $432,394 to $387,954; and an increase in the police budget from $35,795 to $45,353, due to increased benefit costs for police officers retiring from the force.

Also, there were amendments to the 2011 fiscal year budget. The city has more revenue then the original estimation, $6,711,103 compared to $6,681,665. The city also had more expenditures than originally estimated, passing the estimated $6,409,273 to total $6,542,617.