The Vineyard Transit Authority advisory board voted Friday to seek funding from Island voters next spring to pay for restoring off-season bus service to previous levels.

The board will ask the six towns to place an article on their annual town meeting warrants that would appropriate a total of $667,000 for the transit authority.

Bus service was severely curtailed this fall following a summer of tumult around the full-time driver strike. A monthlong job walkoff in June was eventually resolved, but at a cost to the transit authority, which will immediately pay higher wages and more benefits to its workers.

With other expenses also on the rise, the VTA projects a $1 million deficit for the coming year, and began to cut back on off-season bus routes to save money.

At an advisory board meeting Friday morning, members learned that the winter and shoulder-season service cuts will save the transit authority $700,000. Another $300,000 in savings can be realized through of a combination of additional revenue and other factors, VTA administrator Angela Grant told the board.

Board members also said reduced winter service appears to be meeting most needs, and they noted that the number of complaints had dropped significantly after two up-Island routes that were due to be cut were restored, with some creative scheduling.

But Ms. Grant said she continues to receive inquiries about restoring winter service to previous levels.

Running the numbers, she said to restore winter service, the VTA would have to reinstate 10,600 operating hours, at a total cost of $667,848. (Operating costs include wages for drivers, the cost of running the buses and maintenance, she said.)

The six towns already contribute a combined $900,000 to the VTA’s $6 million operating budget. The rest of the budget comes from operating revenue, and federal and state grants.

The $667,000 would be broken down as follows: Aquinnah, $28,650; Chilmark, $103,516; Edgartown, $177,046; Oak Bluffs, $98,774; Tisbury, $167,362; and West Tisbury, $92,496.

The advisory board voted 6-1 to send a letter to each town requesting the warrant article.

Mark Snider, the Edgartown representative to the board, cast the dissenting vote, calling it premature.

“We decided the cutbacks were on routes that were losing a fortune, that didn’t meet state criteria for operation, and that made fiscal sense to cut back,” Mr. Snider said. “[Now] through great planning we have restored some of the routes, and we should see the results of what we have done before we ask the towns to spend another $700,000.”

He continued: “We have to get our house in order. We should generate more revenues, see the ramifications of what was done and go to the towns next year if we have a problem. . . but try to fix it internally before we ask people to pay more money.”

He suggested increasing the cost for annual passes, charging for transporting bicycles or raising fares in summer as alternative methods of generating revenue.

Other advisory board members had a different view.

“I want my representatives to be aware that they are an integral part of the VTA success,” said Tisbury representative Elaine Miller. “We have just gone through a year of real negativity. The ridership is going to be out there making vote, the town is going to be engaged and I want them to do that.”

Ms. Grant said it was unrealistic to think that next year won’t be similar to this year.

“Next October we are looking at the same situation as we saw this past year,” she said. “This [warrant article] puts us in the position to solve fiscal year 2021 issues. Without a significant change of revenue from somebody other than our paying customers . . . there is no other revenue coming in.”

She also noted increased expenses on the horizon, including a looming rent increase from the Martha’s Vineyard airport commission on the VTA administration building in the airport business park.

In April 2020, the rent will go from 39 cents to 85 cents per square foot, increasing the VTA’s yearly cost for the space from $70,000 to roughly $155,000.

Ms. Grant said the state Registry of Motor Vehicles, which sublets its space from the VTA for $36,000 per year — increasing to $90,000 a year under the new rent structure — may decide not to renew, resulting in a loss of revenue that would set the VTA back even further.

She added that if Island voters approve the funds and the financial picture improves, the VTA would simply not take the extra funds.

“If we don’t need the money, we won’t assess the towns for it,” she said.