Berryessa Highlands residents are paying more to keep their Lake Berryessa water and sewer district afloat.

The new water and sewer rates became effective Oct. 1, after the vast majority of property owners in the Napa Berryessa Resort Improvement District accepted the proposed water and sewer rate hikes. Fewer than 2 percent of property owners in the area filed protests with the district by last Tuesday’s deadline.

Under the new hikes, residents will pay 82 percent more than current rates between Oct. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010; and 61 percent more between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011. The rates then will decrease to their current levels.

A committee of residents proposed the new structure after a majority of property owners in the area dealt a defeat to higher increases in June.

The new rates are meant to be temporary while Steele Park Resort, the district’s biggest customer and revenue generator, is shutting down. The resort is scheduled to close at the end of the month as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reviews bids on Steele Park and four other resorts on the shores of Lake Berryessa.

Committee members said they were pleased with last Tuesday’s tally.

 “I think we’re heading in the right direction,” committee member and Berryessa Highlands resident Stu Williams said Friday.

This Tuesday, the members of the Napa County Board of Supervisors, who run the Napa Berryessa Resort Improvement District, will discuss whether two engineering firms recommended by the residents to run the district should be evaluated without a formal bid process.

County staff have recommended going through the normal bid process. Committee members oppose the plan because it could take three to four months.

The district’s water and sewer systems need major repairs, but the district has not been able to issue bonds to pay for the improvements because Steele Park — which has been expected to pay more than a quarter of the estimated $14 million cost — is closing.

The burden on Steele Park raised concerns in the Bureau of Reclamation and elsewhere that no new operator would bid to take over the popular lakeside resort.

But on Friday, Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Pete Lucero said the agency has received “an acceptable range of proposals” to run all the resorts, presumably including Steele Park. The contract for Steele Park includes a requirement to pay money into the NBRID water treatment system.

The bureau hopes to award resort contracts by March, said Lucero, who declined to say how many bids were submitted by the Sept. 30 deadline.

In 2006, state water regulators imposed a moratorium on new construction at Berryessa Highlands because of a series of violations of rules for disposal and treatment of wastewater. The violations most often occur in winter.

The moratorium remains in effect until the district upgrades its infrastructure. According to San Francisco Regional Water Quality Board, the improvements must be completed by 2012.

Bart Barthelemy, another committee member who has spearheaded the grass-roots campaign to find alternatives to run and manage the troubled district, on Friday said he wants county officials to evaluate the two engineering firm proposals without soliciting additional bids.

“Time is of the essence. We have winter coming up,” Barthelemy said.