A council tax hike is on the cards amid a raft of cuts as the comhairle prepares to set its annual budget.
Councillors are being asked to approve raising council tax by the maximum allowed amount -
The council says the provisional amount of money coming from the Scottish Government equates to an overall cash reduction for core services of £900,000.
Extra funding has been awarded but at the same time, £600,000 has to be targetted for health and social care and £1.1 million is ring-
The comhairle is looking at making £2 million of savings via cuts, efficiencies and redesign of services to reduce a deficit to £4.4 million.
Further proposals include an near 5% increase in council tax.
A council spokesman said: “For 77% of Western Isles residents this would result in an increase of £1.01 or less per week.
“The comhairle already has the lowest council tax level in Scotland. This would reduce the deficit facing the comhairle by £187,000.”
A report, to be considered by the policy and resources committee on Thursday, sets out proposals for £2.6 million of savings.
A planned programme of upgrades to roads, schools, infrastructure, harbours, as well as regeneration schemes and council support for community projects are set to receive £1.4 million less from the Scottish Government. If funding continues at this level the comhairle said it faces a £5.2 million shortfall in the present programme of works which continues to 2023. .
The final amount of funding will not be confirmed until March after the Scottish Government and the UK government budgets are finalised.
Council to vote over increasing council tax by almost 5%
22 February 2020