The Golden Gate Bridge district is putting bus and ferry operators on notice of potential layoffs in light of a continuing ridership slump and in anticipation of federal stimulus dollars drying up next month.

At a special meeting on Friday, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District board of directors voted 10-5 to approve a 60-day, federally mandated notice to 242 district employees, or about 29% of the district’s 840 budgeted employees. Fifty-seven positions are already vacant.

Denis Mulligan, the district’s general manager, said the notice does not mean layoffs will occur, but it gives the board that option starting in mid-November.

“If a layoff is to happen,” Mulligan told the board, “it’s anticipated that laid-off staff could be brought back in a measured way commensurate with the return of our customers on our buses and ferries and also with bridge traffic, which is how we would have to pay for all of that.”

Whether layoffs will occur is largely dependent on whether more federal transit funding will be made available in the intervening months, Mulligan said.

Several bus operators, union representatives and passengers called on the board to delay issuing the 60-day notice until January. They recommended finding alternative options such as dipping into reserves, incentivizing early retirement, furloughs and cutting management salaries.

Robert Kauffman, a 10-year bus operator with the district, urged the board to consider cutting managers’ pay before laying off employees who have already taken pay cuts because of service changes.

“A lot of these people are new drivers and they live paycheck to paycheck,” Kauffman said. “They don’t have any expendable income.”

“What is the purpose of an emergency relief fund if we don’t use it in an emergency?” said Max Alper of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, which represents ferry operators.

Shane Weinstein, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575, which represents the district’s nearly 250 bus operators, said employees could be laid off “just days before Thanksgiving and Christmas right on its heels.”

Helen Moore, a former district employee of 27 years, said even if the district does not lay off workers, the notice itself will add even more stress to transit operators who are already dealing with the stresses and risks of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Just getting that notice is enough to put the fear of God into people,” she said.

But district staff say the staff levels can’t be sustained given the pandemic’s dramatic effects on ridership and bridge tolls. Ferry and bus ridership are down 97% and 80%, respectively, compared to normal levels, according to Mulligan. Bridge tolls — which largely subsidize both transit programs — are down 35% and were down as much as 70% at the start of the pandemic, Mulligan said.

“We’re spending more money than we’re currently taking in on bridge tolls and transit fares,” Mulligan said.

The bridge district received about $51.6 million in federal stimulus funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to continue operating its transit services. However, that funding is set to dry up at the end of October, Mulligan said, and there is no indication more is on the way.

Bridge operations are not covered by the stimulus funds. Board members and staff saying that the priority must be on maintaining the bridge.

“Even if we were to focus less on the bridge the revenue is still in dire straits,” said district board member Brian Sobel.

While there have been service reductions and employee pay reductions, they are not enough to address the district’s budget shortfall of about $48 million, said Joe Wire, the district’s chief financial officer.

The district would save between $25 million and $30 million if all 242 employees were laid off or furloughed, Wire said. But even then the district would still be at least $20 million short of what’s needed to balance the budget, Wire said.

The district has an $8.2 million emergency reserve and a $17.5 operating reserve.

“If we expend our reserves now or in this fiscal year, what are you going to do next fiscal year?” Wire told the board.

Of the 185 active employees who will be put on notice, 140 are in the bus division, 39 are in the ferry division and six are in administration, according to the district.

Board member Dick Grosboll of San Francisco motioned to postpone the discussion until January.

“I’m not convinced that we can’t wait a few months,” Grosboll said.

In a rare split vote, the board voted 7-8 on Grosboll’s motion, causing it to fail. Marin supervisors and district board members Judy Arnold and Kate Sears voted in favor of delaying the discussion along with Sabrina Hernandez, Elbert Hill, James Mastin and Michael Theriault.

A motion to approve the 60-day layoff notice was approved in a 10-5 vote later in the discussion, with board members Grosboll, Hernandez, Hill, Mastin and Theriault dissenting.