People who owe garbage and earned income taxes to Avalon Borough will have a couple months to pay up before the consequences get a lot steeper.

Property owners recently received letters warning of court action if they did not pay delinquent garbage collection fees, according to borough manager Harry Dilmore. Council member Dave Dixon, however, wanted an additional penalty -- advertisement of their names in The Citizen.

Council voted unanimously at its meeting Tuesday to advertise the names of anyone who does not pay a delinquent garbage bill by Jan. 18, 2011.

The borough is owed about $80,000 in delinquent garbage fees, Dilmore said.

With regard to earned income taxes remaining unpaid from 2008, council approved a motion to waive the 1 percent per month penalty that has accrued on the accounts as long as the taxpayers make payment in the first quarter of 2011.

Tax collector Ed Klicker said that the waiver is an effort not only to encourage taxpayers to pay up, but also to get revenue for the borough in the early months of the year.

Klicker will continue to collect delinquent wage taxes through the second quarter of 2011, when Keystone will take over as the collector for both current and delinquent EIT. Klicker will charge the borough the same, lower fee for delinquent collections as Keystone would charge. Once the company takes over, Klicker said, collection fees charged to taxpayers will be considerably higher.