Pioneer Recovery tells employees its closing Batavia office

You'd think a debt-collection agency would be in high cotton these days, what with the economic downturn and all.

Not so, apparently with a Batavia business that duns people for money. Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc., located at 1 Mills St., suite 200, is shutting its doors, according to workers there.

We are told by sources that employees were called into a meeting at noon and informed that the Batavia office was being shut down but that employees would be given an opportunity to transfer to Pioneer's Perry or Arcade office.

So far, we haven't heard from the bosses (we've placed four calls to the corporate headquarters) on details of the announced shutdown or how many employees will be affected. Ditto the reason behind the move.

Dan Fischer at WBTA has also tried calling Pioneer's headquarters and he spoke to a PR person who said she couldn't confirm nor deny the shutdown.

Batavia is just one branch of Pioneer offices located in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. According to its Web site, it's the largest private employer in Wyoming County and is based in Arcade. Pioneer was established in 1980 and has about 1,400 employees in Western New York.

Pioneer is a subsidiary of Sallie Mae's Asset Performance Group Division. Its growth over the past few years stems in no small part from legislation passed a few years ago which allowed private companies to contract with the Internal Revenue Service to collect debts.

The company expanded into Genesee County in 2004, with much fanfare from local business leaders and politicos. It was widely regarded as a "shot in the arm" for job growth here.

Christine Fix, then-president of the Batavia City Council, said at the time, according to an old Pioneer press release:

"Pioneer Credit Recovery's selection of the Greater Batavia Area for its expansion represents a tremendous boost to the local economy and spotlights the collaborative efforts in economic development that are taking place in Genesee County and the City of Batavia. The City of Batavia is appreciative of Pioneer Credit Recovery's confidence in our future and welcomes them to our community."

The Batavia project was tagged at $3.8 million, with $550,000 coming from Empire State Development Funds and $750,000 from the governor's Office for Small Cities program. Pioneer pledged to create 200 jobs initially and a couple hundred more regionally in the not-too-distant future.

Howard Owens contributed to this post.