DEARBORN — The City of Dearborn’s 19th District Court has announced an amnesty program for unpaid civil infraction tickets.

Individuals have from now until May 16 to settle their old debts with the court and for the court to clear up a backlog of files without additional collection costs.

Amnesty applies only to those individuals who present themselves at 19th District Court, 16077 Michigan Ave., weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Debts that will be accepted include all payable parking and traffic civil infraction tickets issued within the City of Dearborn by the Dearborn Police Department, Michigan State Police and Wayne County Sheriff’s Department.

Many unpaid tickets have resulted in arrest warrants for those individuals. However, the 19th District Court says if those people would like to settle their debt, they may come to court without fear of being arrested. If their ticket is paid off, the warrant will be lifted. 

The 19th District Court judges have authorized that for this period of amnesty the ticket will be reduced to the original fine and a $45 suspension fee if applicable. Upon full payment, the court will notify the Secretary of State to lift the suspension. No payment plans for debts will be accepted, and all payments must be cash, certified check, money order, or credit card.

The court says the amnesty program is just a limited offer in order to reduce a number of backlog cases. The court will resume with more aggressive enforcements following May 16 in attempts to collect unpaid tickets with penalties and late fees.