Wayne County treasurer outlines plan to correct decade-long errors in library penal-fines distributions

Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree told the county’s Ways and Means Committee that his office has identified a long-running miscalculation that misallocated penal and motor-vehicle court fines among public libraries and that staff are working to correct the errors and limit harm to libraries.

The error, Sabree said during the committee meeting, dates back about 10 years and resulted in some libraries being underpaid and others overpaid. Melissa Evans, the treasurer’s administrator for tax accounting, said county calculations found 21 libraries underpaid and 11 overpaid. Evans said the net effect of underpayments versus overpayments leaves “a little under $100,000” due back to the county but that a single library was overpaid by more than $1 million.

“There is a deadline within the statute,” Chief Deputy Treasurer Jeanvir Adams told…