This article first appeared on Outlier Media and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Wayne County extended the deadlines to claim tax auction profits and pay tax debts to April 8 after a bomb threat forced the closure of the treasurer’s Greektown offices Monday afternoon.
The extension was welcome news for people like Velecia Carruthers, who had waited in line for hours to pay the taxes on her Detroit home.
“It’s stay here or be homeless,” she said, recalling how panic set in when security guards ushered her and at least 100 others outside into the cold.
Carruthers’ worries were put to rest, for the moment, when Treasurer Eric Sabree walked into the crowd and said the county’s March 31 deadline for tax payments and other transactions would be pushed to April 8. The high-stakes deadline is the busiest day of the year for the treasurer’s office, and hundreds were waiting in line.
The treasurer’s office is closed Tuesday, but Sabree said it would reopen on Wednesday at 8 a.m. and would continue to accept payments and claims until April 8 at 4:30 p.m.
“A lot of people came down,” Sabree said. “A lot of people were very nervous, so that’s why we extended the deadline.”
He told Outlier Media that anyone could take advantage of the extension — there’s no need to prove they were in line when the building was evacuated. That didn’t stop several people from taking selfies with Sabree, just to be sure.
The extension offers a reprieve for Detroiters who were rushing to claim funds from past tax foreclosures. For years, Wayne County profited from the tax auction, seizing homes for unpaid taxes, selling them for more than the tax debt, and keeping the difference. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that former homeowners are entitled to those profits and that retroactive claims can be made for the years 2015-20.
Since December, Outlier has worked with a coalition of nonprofits to inform Detroiters of what they are owed and help them start claims.
The Detroit Police Department confirmed the bomb threat and said a bomb squad was en route Monday around 3 p.m. Sgt. Daron Zhou did not provide any other details. Sabree said the threat was called in to the county clerk’s office. Zhou said the threat was cleared and the building reopened by around 4:15 p.m. on Monday.
Outlier Media Civic Life Reporter Briana Rice contributed to this story.