Residents of the towns surrounding Lake Berryessa in northern California agreed to raise their water and sewage rates by 60 percent in order to pay off a $205,000 budget shortfall in the sanitary district’s budget, according to SF Gate. The area has been devastated by the closure of five large resorts over the last few years, forcing local businesses dependent upon tourism out of business. At the same time, the cost of utilities has been skyrocketing to untenable levels.
SF Gate reports:
Residents of the Berryessa Highlands are moving out in droves. For sale signs are propped in front of many homes in the subdivision, which snakes along a ridge overlooking the lake.
The economic collapse at Lake Berryessa is in some ways a study in how a recession can disproportionately affect small, rural communities, but the situation is more complicated than that.
"Everyone is hurting. You have high costs for water and sewer, and the costs are spread over a very small number of people, because you just have this one neighborhood," said Helene Franchi, the principal management analyst for Napa County. "It's the perfect storm."