Although voters across the Lakes Region approved funding for the Lakes Region Bus at town meetings this month, it won’t be clear until next month whether the new funding will be enough to allow the shuttle to continue operations, according to officials at Regional Transportation Program, the nonprofit that runs the service.

Depending on how much is delivered by the towns, Jack DeBeradinis, RTP’s executive director, said the new funding could potentially allow the 18-month-old Naples-to-Portland daily shuttle service to continue through July 1, 2016, and also extend to Bridgton.

RTP has seen its overall revenues decline by more than 50 percent in recent years, primarily due to an overhaul of the MaineCare transportation provider system in Cumberland County. In recent months, DeBeradinis has sought to raise $48,000 from the five municipalities in order to keep the shuttle, which costs nearly $100,000 a year, operating. The program has funded the bus service’s 18-month initial pilot program with money from a federal rural transportation grant and fare revenues.

DeBeradinis requested $9,656 from each town to help operate the service. This month, voters in Bridgton, Naples, Casco, Raymond and Windham, approved various amounts of funding for the bus.

Raymond voters passed Article 23, which contained $5,000 for the Lakes Region Bus. In Casco, voters passed Article 14, which contained $9,656 for the shuttle. Windham voters approved $9,656 in bus funding included in the Town Council Memberships line item. In Naples, voters passed Article 44, allocating $9,656 for the shuttle.

In Bridgton, voters approved a warrant article inserted through a citizens’ petition that raises the tax rate 1 cent in order to extend the bus route into Bridgton for a year. The question passed 460 to 370, with 11 blank votes cast.

Although all five votes were in the affirmative, DeBeradinis said RTP will not decide until July whether it can extend the bus service past next month. That’s because Bridgton’s tax assessing office will not finalize the town’s valuation until next month, meaning it will be impossible to figure out the total amount of funding approved by Bridgton voters until then.

“We will definitely continue the service this July, until we hear back from Bridgton,” DeBeradinis said. “What we don’t want to do is go on the basis that we think Bridgton is going to go on the full amount.”

Bridgton Town Manager, Bob Peabody said the valuation will be determined at some point in July.

“Once we set our tax rate, then as the question said, we add one penny to that,” Peabody said. “The assessor has not finished his work of finalizing our valuation. Until we know what our valuation is, we won’t know what our (tax) rate will be.”

“This is the way it was written so we have to wait until our information is together before we can answer those questions,” he added.

According to DeBeradinis, due to financial constraints, the program can only commit $33,280 to the program annually starting this July 1. The program expects to collect about $15,000 in fares this year and values its in-kind staff support for the program at $12,440.

The shuttle runs back and forth on Route 302 between Naples and Portland every weekday, starting in Naples at 6 a.m., and ending there at 8:20 p.m. There are stops in Naples, Casco, Raymond, Windham, Westbrook and Portland. DeBeradinis said he has not approached Westbrook and Portland for assistance because the municipalities are already contributing their fair share.