Western Isles Council is to debate a series of cuts to find more than £9million of savings to maintain services for the next three years.
It faces a £3.7million funding gap due to a reduction of £1.6million of central government funding, and a further round of savings of £5.4 million is required to the end of March 2018.
Inflation, including rising wage bills, will cost the council an extra £1.3million this coming financial year.
It also has to pay £400,000 more for staff pensions.
One financial blow is a significant overspend in the social work department at present, much of it caused by increasing demand for services, particularly with the soaring number of older people needing care.
A budget report highlights the risk of compulsory job losses, though publicly the council always said that is something they avoid.
Council finance director Robert Emmott said that long term financial projections – drawing on census figures, population projections and costs – estimates “shows that around £5.4 million of savings will be needed across 2016-18.”
Mr Emmott recommends the council deal with an one-off budget for this year and waits for the outcome of the General Election and the next UK spending review before firming a strategy to tackle future cuts.