News Summary
Lexington County residents are affected by the sudden closure of Professional Mail Services, Inc., disrupting water billing for over 20,000 households. The third-party mailing company ceased operations unexpectedly, impacting billing in Batesburg-Leesville and Lexington. Town officials are working to recover costs and ensure residents receive their bills without penalties. While Batesburg-Leesville seeks a new vendor, Lexington has already secured continued service. The event raises concerns over the reliability of third-party service providers in municipal operations.
Lexington County is facing an unexpected disruption in water billing services as Professional Mail Services, Inc., a third-party mailing company based in Raleigh, has announced its closure. This sudden development impacts over 20,000 residents who rely on traditional physical bills for their water services. The company informed town officials in Batesburg-Leesville and Lexington about its decision to cease operations on May 9 without prior notification, leaving local officials scrambling to address the issue.
The closure affects approximately 2,800 residents in Batesburg-Leesville and around 17,600 in Lexington. However, customers who receive paperless billing are not affected by this disruption. Town officials expressed their surprise at the closure, stating that they had made multiple attempts to communicate with the mailing service, but these efforts went unanswered. Additionally, there were no official filings for bankruptcy or WARN reports from Professional Mail Services, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the situation.
Batesburg-Leesville officials reported having paid around $2,100 for the billing services in April, even though those bills were never delivered. The town is currently pursuing avenues to recover this payment as they initiate an emergency procurement process to select a new vendor for billing services for the upcoming month. To ensure residents are not adversely affected by the billing complications, Batesburg-Leesville plans to include any outstanding water bills from this period on the next month’s statement.
Meanwhile, the Town of Lexington has already secured a new vendor that began sending out paper bills starting May 13. Town officials confirmed that residents in Lexington would not face penalties or service disconnections as a result of the disruption. Lexington typically pays approximately $11,000 monthly for its mailing services, and the swift transition to a new vendor aims to maintain consistent billing for its residents.
In light of the situation, town leaders want to reassure residents that no water services will be disconnected due to these billing issues. Staff at town hall are available to assist residents with any concerns or inquiries related to the missed water bills. The towns are committed to resolving the current issues as quickly as possible and to ensuring that residents continue to receive their water bills without further complications.
This unexpected closure of Professional Mail Services has raised questions about the reliability of third-party providers and their impact on municipal services. Batesburg-Leesville had been utilizing the mailing service since 2018, while Lexington had an arrangement in place since the fall of 2019. The recent developments underscore the importance of having contingency plans for essential services like utility billing to prevent disruptions that can affect thousands of residents.
As the towns move forward, the emphasis remains on restoring a seamless billing process for all affected residents. Town leaders are actively working to secure new partnerships to avoid similar issues in the future and to enhance communication with service providers to ensure that such unexpected disruptions do not occur again.
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Additional Resources
- The State: Water Billing Disruption
- WLTX: Batesburg-Leesville Water Bills Missing
- Port City Daily: Pender County Utility Bills Delay
- Lexington Chronicle: Water Upgrades in Batesburg-Leesville
- Cola Daily: Free Energy Saving Program
- Wikipedia: Utility Billing
- Google Search: Utility Billing Issues
- Google Scholar: Utility Billing Disruption
- Encyclopedia Britannica: Utility Billing
- Google News: Batesburg-Leesville Water Bills
Author: STAFF HERE LEXINGTON WRITER
The LEXINGTON STAFF WRITER represents the experienced team at HERELexington.com, your go-to source for actionable local news and information in Lexington, Fayette County, and beyond. Specializing in "news you can use," we cover essential topics like product reviews for personal and business needs, local business directories, politics, real estate trends, neighborhood insights, and state news affecting the area—with deep expertise drawn from years of dedicated reporting and strong community input, including local press releases and business updates. We deliver top reporting on high-value events such as Woodland Art Fair, Crave Food and Music Festival, and Railbird Festival. Our coverage extends to key organizations like Commerce Lexington and Blue Grass Community Foundation, plus leading businesses in education, manufacturing, and technology that power the local economy such as University of Kentucky, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, and Lexmark. As part of the broader HERE network, including HEREBowlingGreen.com and HERELouisville.com, we provide comprehensive, credible insights into Kentucky's dynamic landscape.
