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       Members of Metro’s board voiced optimism Thursday that a doomsday budget released this week by the transit agency’s staff can be avoided.

       But they also warned that months of wrangling to come over the transit agency’s deep-seated financial problems will be marked by tough trade-offs and probably end with pain for customers.

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       After listening to a protracted and somber presentation of the causes and potential consequences of Metro’s $750 million budget deficit — which Metro officials said could lead to significant cuts without new funding from area jurisdictions — Finance and Capital Committee Chair Matthew F. Letourneau said members will gather again in January to craft options ahead of public hearings.

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       “My hope is that today is sort of the rock-bottom discussion and that the conversation that we’re having will only get better from this point forward,” said Letourneau, who also serves on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

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       In an indication that he and others plan to put their own imprint on Metro’s priorities — and may have dueling ideas about which approaches make the most sense — Letourneau said he wants to avoid the closure of 10 of Metro’s least-used stations, a key cost-saving proposal presented by agency budget officials.

       Higher fares, fewer stations: Metro outlines proposed doomsday cuts

       A little over a year ago, Metro opened its long-anticipated six-station Silver Line extension to Dulles International Airport, including new service between Reston and eastern Loudoun County. The opening of the $3 billion project marked the culmination of years of transportation and development planning in Northern Virginia. But usage remains a sliver of Metro’s overall ridership. The 10 stations that could be shuttered have yet to be decided.

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       Stations with low ridership would be targeted, according to the proposal from agency budget officials, although they said no two side-by-side stations would be shuttered.

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       “Providing zero service is just the most drastic thing that we can do for a given station,” Letourneau said. “You think about the assets that cost a lot of money to build having no service, being completely dark, to me it’s even worse than longer headways and worse service.”

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       Other board members pointed to their own priorities in the wake of a budget presentation that warned of the possibility of ending Metrorail daily at 10 p.m. and drastically increasing times between trains. Under Metro’s current budget and service targets, 80 percent of rail customers have waits of six minutes or less, said Tom Webster, Metro’s chief planning and performance officer. Under the cuts in the proposed budget, that would fall to 10 percent, he said.

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       Tracy Hadden Loh, who represents the District on the board, said service cuts are “not a responsible part of the solution” and they should be avoided if possible.

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       “Every service cut that we make decreases the value of transit to the region. And that is the doom loop,” Hadden Loh said.

       She said based on conversations with public officials in the District, and some of their public statements, she believes the city will end up providing the money needed to cover the District’s share of what Metro needs.

       “The commitment is there. There’s a lot of work to be done. But I am not worried that the District is not going to come through. We are going to figure this out,” Hadden Loh said.

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       Joe McAndrew, a board member who also is Maryland’s assistant secretary of transportation, said top state transportation officials have proposed providing Metro with an additional $150 million beyond what it was expected to provide. As part of their proposal, Metro officials would shift preventive maintenance funds to the operating budget, something McAndrew said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld, the former Metro chief, hope to avoid.

       “We put out 150 in hopes that we do not maximize that transfer of capital funding to operating to keep the lights on,” McAndrew said. The proposal still must be approved by the state’s legislature.

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