ROCK FALLS – The city wants to make sure it receives the money it is owed. And right now, that’s about $290,000.

So the city has signed up with the Illinois comptroller’s new Local Debt Recovery program, which will help recover delinquent electric, sewer, water and garbage payments by garnishing deadbeat customers’ income from tax returns, state paychecks, lottery winnings and commercial vendor payments.

Money taken from state payroll checks cannot exceed 25 percent of the employee’s net income, but there is no cap to how much can be recovered from the other three sources. Debtors will be charged a $15 fee per collection.