Council tax in the Western Isles is set to increase by 3% in a effort to reduce a £6 million budget shortfall.
Councillors will vote today over the proposal which aims to raise an extra half a million pounds.
The top four council tax bands were already set to increase after MSPs agreed the Scotland-wide measure in November.
That will bring in an extra £160,000 while a 3% hike across the board brings the extra cash up to £540,000.
Cuts agreed last February as part of a two-year plan should save around £3.1 million.
The remaining budget gap is set to be plugged by cash the authority already holds, provided councillors agree after a non-stop series of meetings and votes today (Tues).
One impact is the effective closure of the Hillcrest children’s care home in Stornoway which could save £350,000 but would result in the loss of a number of posts there.
Councillors will be updated on the plans for transitional arrangements including a new way of delivering services plus building a new modern facility at Sandwick.
Western Isles finance director, Robert Emmott, stressed that finances “remains a key challenge” for the council and following May’s elections, the fresh of councillors will be pressed to “agree and implement its strategic plan and budget without undue delay.”
He said the authority’s budget has been slashed by 16% from £121 million in 2010 to £102 million this year. In real terms this worked out at a near £35 million or 29% reduction.
Looking ahead, “without a change in national policy, there is no foreseeable prospect of an end to the current regime within which local government has been managing since 2011,” he said.
Mr Emmott added: “Whilst the council has successfully realised the necessary savings over this period, further reductions on this scale inevitably will have an increasing impact on services.”