Faced with an unprecedented financial crisis, Steamship Authority governors took up a laundry list of measures to help the boat line stay afloat on Tuesday, extending the reduced ferry schedule to May 14, and hearing reports on the procurement of tens of millions of dollars in much-needed liquidity.

Some $500,000 in needed repairs to the Oak Bluffs terminal will go out to bid too, with an eye toward opening the terminal by late June.

And while governors struck a serious tone over the dire financial predicament, with cash running low and the sole source of operating revenue — ferry traffic — currently at a near standstill due to the pandemic, there was new confidence that a solution can be found. Federal relief money will now come sooner than expected, governors learned, and advance summer bookings remain strong.

In a report to the board, general manager Robert Davis said the SSA saw a $7 million drop in credit card receipts over the past month compared with 2019.

“As we look at the traffic patterns for July, August and September, we still have a lot of reservations out there,” Mr. Davis said. “It’s the near-term reservations that people are moving out, or in some cases, canceling them.”

On Friday, Mr. Davis sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Baker urgently requesting a financial bailout from the state, a first in the modern history of the ferry line. The letter said the SSA was losing $1 million a week and would be out of money by May 31.

But in the sprawling, four-hour board meeting held by teleconference Tuesday, governors spent little time discussing the letter, focusing instead on a broad overview of the SSA’s complicated financial systems and a long list of other agenda items.

It was the first board meeting since the coronavirus outbreak began more than a month ago, and governors said they would begin meeting weekly now.

They also disagreed over whether to pursue repairs to the Oak Bluffs terminal wharf considering the cash-flow concerns, and lashed out at management over millions of dollars in change orders for the ballooning Woods Hole terminal project whose cost has now climbed north of $70 million. Further austerity measures, including possible salary reductions for non-union staff, were also discussed.

And while they were combative at times over various management issues, governors defended Mr. Davis and his staff for their work under trying circumstances during the pandemic emergency. At one point Vineyard governor James Malkin, who is board chairman, raised the recurring issue of whether a chief operating officer should be hired — a recommendation that came from last year’s independent management review which Mr. Davis has resisted. But other governors swiftly cut him off, saying it was not the right moment.

“The timing of this is not great,” New Bedford governor Moira Tierney said. “Bob has a really, really, really, tough job that is now made incredibly harder. And I’m the first person to fight with Bob if he does something that I don’t agree with. But I think we need to tell him, right here, right now. This is not a reflection on you, by any stretch of the imagination . . . and we recognize that you are doing yeoman’s duty on so many levels to keep us operational.”

The meeting began with a statement from Mr. Malkin expressing confidence that the boat line would do everything it could to service the Islands during the pandemic — and prepare for the reopening of the state economy.

“The meeting today is about how we move forward to serve the Islands and their economies,” he said. “The current situation that we are looking at . . . is not encouraging. But we are going to follow the state’s guidelines, and we are going to assist in welcoming people back to the Island when they can travel here.”

In his update, Mr. Davis outlined steps the boat line had taken to address safety concerns stemming from the pandemic, including updated cleaning and hygienic protocols in boats, parking lots and terminals. He recommended continuing the reduced schedule, which has cut ferry trips approximately in half, until May 14 at the earliest. Governors agreed.

On the financial front, Mr. Davis said the SSA will receive approximately $12 million in federal and state grant coronavirus relief funding, and that much of it is expected to arrive in three to five weeks, not six to eight weeks as he had previously reported.

The money comes from two separate relief packages from the Federal Transportation Administration: a $2.4 million grant that will be shared with the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, and $9.8 million from the CARES act. Mr. Davis said the money would help maintain service through May 31, and potentially beyond.

Mr. Davis, who was authorized by governors at the meeting last month to explore a $10 million line of credit, said the credit line had been approved with the Cape Cod Five bank. But Barnstable governor Robert Jones balked at the terms and asked treasurer Mark Rozum to go back to the bank and renegotiate.

Mr. Jones’s specific concern was with the credit line’s so called cleanup period, requiring the boat line to reduce the balance to zero every 12 months.

Needed repairs to the Oak Bluffs summer pier were also a topic for heated debate.

An engineering report prepared last month found that the pier needs significant work, including structural repairs to 35 pilings. Director of marine operations Mark Amundson said the estimated cost of the work is $500,000. The boat line has already budgeted $750,000 for the anticipated repairs.

Mr. Amundson said if the work goes out to bid immediately, the terminal could reopen by June 22 — more than a month later than scheduled.

But Ms. Tierney raised strong objections, saying it would be fiscally imprudent to spend money on the pier repairs in light of the current financial situation.

“I think it would be a horrible use of funds to repair this facility right now,” she said. “I think it would be financial suicide.”

Falmouth governor Kathryn Wilson also objected.

But Mr. Malkin strongly defended the need for the project, saying it was essential to the economy of Oak Bluffs to be prepared for the summer and that running all ferries through Vineyard Haven would create unsustainable traffic bottlenecks. Nantucket governor Rob Ranney sided with Mr. Malkin, arguing that the terminal will ultimately pay for itself.

Governors agreed to put the project out to bid.

Finally, the board approved another $500,000 in change orders for the Woods Hole terminal reconstruction project, bringing the total cost of change orders to $5.2 million. That too drew fire from the governors, including Ms. Tierney, who has been an outspoken critic of the mounting change orders. She vowed to never approve another change order for the project without more board involvement.

“It is mind-boggling,” the New Bedford governor said. “As a fiduciary of both my city and the Steamship Authority, to put on the record that we aren’t pushing back hard enough on these change orders. The change orders are sinful.”

Boat line governors will meet again on Tuesday at 10 a.m.