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Scofflaws had better beware.

If you were convicted of a criminal offense in Collier County and you haven’t paid your fines or fees, your license will be suspended.

Beginning Monday, if you don’t immediately call the clerk’s Collections Department, the Clerk of the Circuit Court will start notifying the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles of your status. That even includes cases in which the judge withheld a determination of guilt.

It’s something county employees have been doing in misdemeanor traffic cases when defendants don’t pay up within 48 hours. It’s been useful in making offenders pay their fines, court, prosecution and investigative costs in traffic court.

“This is where the gold is for us,” Collier Clerk of Courts Dwight Brock said.

Now, due to a state law that allows license suspensions for nonpayment, Brock wants to expand that tool to collect costs and fines in misdemeanor and felony criminal cases.

“It’s a very successful tool,” Brock said of the threat of license suspension.

“I want people to know it’s fixing to happen so they’d better get down here,” he added, noting that defendants already have received warnings by mail, the media has been alerted, and the clerk’s Web site features a large warning. “I’m not saying they have to pay it now, but as long as they contract to pay, appear in court and renegotiate, we’re willing to work with them.”

Collections reports show the state’s measure for success in collections for traffic fines and costs is 40 percent, but Collier County collects roughly double that.

It collected between 79 percent and 81.9 percent by the fifth-quarter of collecting for the prior 12 months of assessed fines and costs — $914,684.60 of $1,127,929.45 by Dec. 31.

In contrast, 52 percent of fees for misdemeanor criminal cases — $185,676.08 of $352,470.25 — was gathered in that period. And in Circuit Court, where the state benchmark is 9 percent, Collier County collected 10.15 percent, or $118,755.17 of $1,169,986 by year’s end.

The fees help run the office and county government. Brock returned $3.6 million to county government in 2005 and $1.9 million last year, but those amounts also included fees for marriage licenses, passports and civil cases.

Robert St. Cyr, director of community outreach for the clerk’s office, expects the suspension threat will boost coffers, but added: “I don’t think the phones will be ringing off the hook when you consider the criminal element we’re dealing with.”

Collections specialist Gracie Radi, who heads the clerk’s Collections Department, said many pay the day of their conviction, or ask for time until their next paycheck.

“They want to get it out of the way,” Radi said.

Others arrange contracts by coming to her office, where she and her four employees ask for a minimum contract payment of $50 every two weeks.

For those who don’t pay up, collections employees make 100 to 150 calls weekly to remind scofflaws to pay or tell them they have a date with County Judge Christine Greider, who hears the Collections Court cases at 4:50 p.m. every Tuesday.

“It sounds like we’re the bad guys, but once they’re on contract, we release the suspensions on their licenses so they can get their licenses back and be productive members of society,” Radi said. “To me, it’s a way of helping them.”

Collections employees, who ask offenders to provide documentation showing their inability to pay, hear all sorts of excuses, from people being unable to pay due to divorce, unemployment or being sick.

“One of my favorites was, ‘I can’t get a note from my doctor because my doctor was just arrested,’’’ Radi said.

Some are homeless, but others do have cancer or strokes and can’t pay.

“Those are the saddest,” she said, adding that others, like drug trafficking convicts, have hefty fines. “We have some that won’t be paid in my lifetime.”

But her department has a 20 percent success rate and those who received a warning that their licenses are being suspended usually can get that voided if they come to her office on the first floor of the Collier County Courthouse within 30 days. For those who ignore warnings, the department suspends 50 to 60 driver licenses weekly.

To make arrangements to pay, call the collections office at (239) 732-2649.