An independent panel with the task of reviewing Toronto's finances is recommending the city make some drastic changes to increase its revenue.

More taxes, road tolls and real-estate sell-offs are just a few of the suggestions made in the report, presented Thursday morning by the six-member panel.

Blake Hutcheson, chair of the panel, said the city would prosper immensely if it worked out a deal with the province where in exchange for the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway, Toronto would receive a portion of regional road tolls imposed on the 400-series higways.

Mayor David Miller has dismissed tolls in the past, but says the idea is worth further study.

"I think the strategy outline is a very interesting one to try to both deal with environmental issues and seek a new source of revenue, and it's something in a regional context that I would very, very seriously consider," Miller said.

"The quick math is that can create hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue," he said. "If you capitalize on that math, you can create an enterprise that is worth $5 billion to $7 billion."

The report also recommended the city look to lease, sell or develop its real estate assets, worth about $18 billion.

Other suggestions included adding a $25 parking lot tax, an additional tax at the fuel pump and selling off assets like Toronto Hydro and the Toronto Parking Authority.

They estimated Toronto Hydro to be worth more than $2.5 billion and the TPA between $300 million and $500 million.

In the report, the panel states more homework needs to be done before these ideas are implemented but that nonetheless, they should be taken seriously.

"There is little doubt that the city can ignore some or all of (the recommendations), or write them off as too simplistic and continue on its present course," wrote the panel. "And in certain cases we freely acknowledge that more homework is required before a definitive decision to proceed can be made.

"It is our belief, however, that now is the time for the city to act before there is an acute crisis facing this great city -- one that could have been avoided."

The panel also suggested council try and implement their suggestions during the current term which ends in November, 2010.

Hutcheson said that Toronto can't continue on the current fiscal path as its debt load is already high.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Alicia Kay-Markson