The City of Bethlehem has a new billing format which is part of a city-wide printing and mailing initiative to modernize city services and improve customer relations.The more readable format and a new message center segment will appear first in the 35,000 residential water bills to be released this month.

The printing and mailing initiative, a partnership with Level One document management solutions of Malvern, has already saved the Department of Water and Sewer Resources $10,092 with the new water bills and $5,300 on printing and delivery of the annual Consumer Confidence Report, a mandatory statement on water quality.

Before the end of this year, the printing and mailing initiative will be applied to water and sewer delinquencies and real estate taxes. Next year's goals include the recycling newsletter and other annual reports. Future services will include online bill pay and paperless billing.