Reform will have to find a further £35.9m of cuts and savings at Norfolk County Council over the next year, with a stark warning services could suffer in order to plug the funding gap.
The process to set County Hall's budget for the 2027/28 has begun, with millions of pounds of savings necessary to balance the books at the authority.
Council officers have warned the scale of the financial challenge means cuts to services may be unavoidable.
While specific proposals have yet to be announced, the prospect of more cuts follows the £42m of savings agreed for this year by the previous Conservative administration.
Reform, which has 39 councillors, took control of County Hall from the Tories in May's elections.
The party did not publish a manifesto, but has already outlined its intentions to review spending on net zero projects and to improve productivity, including through a review of staff working practices, such as working from home.
And the authority's leader said the party's priorities would become clearer during the budget-setting process.
Council leader David Bick said: "There'll be a lot of emphasis on getting a tight grip on spending and particularly overspending.
"We'll have much more to say about this when we get to the full council meeting.
"But the watchwords here are a disciplined approach to procurement, a disciplined approach to spending and a disciplined approach to revenue generation, which has not had nearly enough emphasis from previous administrations."
A report presented to the Reform-led cabinet stated: "The size of the budget gap forecast for 2027-28 is such that there is a risk that the council will be obliged to consider reductions in service levels."
Proposals will be worked up between now and the autumn, with departments set targets for savings, including £11.1m from adults social care, £3.8m from children's services and £10.8m from infrastructure.
Officers said the council faces a "difficult budget planning round" with the likelihood of only "extremely limited increases" in government funding.
Officers said: "Recognising the wider pressures both on demand and the headwinds within the global economy, we must continue to safeguard the delivery of the essential local services which are used and relied on by so many of the county’s residents, businesses and visitors."
For planning purposes, the proposals include an assumed 4.99pc council tax increase in 2027/28, although that is subject to change.
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