Detroit and Wayne County elected officials are headed back to Lansing to seek relief from the Legislature for fines and penalties that low-income homeowners have been assessed for years of unpaid property taxes.

Mayor Mike Duggan, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and other local officials announced a proposal Wednesday that would lower the monthly payment plans for homeowners who owe back taxes by wiping out 6 percent interest penalties and other fines that were piled on their unpaid tax debts.

Under the proposal, individuals earning less than $19,000 a year or a family of four earning less than $28,675 would qualify for the interest and penalties on their back tax bill to be forgiven, Duggan said.

For an average homeowner paying $120 a month in taxes and penalties, the monthly payment would be reduced to $20 for the portion of property taxes that they still owe, according to the mayor.

Officials estimate around 20,000 homeowners in Wayne County who are behind on their taxes may fall under this income cap to qualify for the relief. There are regularly 31,000 homeowners in the county behind on their taxes, said Dave Massaron, Detroit's chief financial officer.

Most of these homeowners entered into payment plans as a result of a 2015 law Duggan advocated for that allowed the Wayne County treasurer's office to create a repayment plan.

The goal of the proposed relief of fees and penalties is to avert further foreclosures for unpaid taxes — one of the leading causes of abandonment and blight in Detroit's neighborhoods.

"We've got to find a way for them to be out and from under this once and for all," Duggan said Wednesday. "And I think all of us should want those 30,000 people to not be living in anxiety over their house."

State Rep. Wendell Byrd, D-Detroit, plans to sponsor the legislation seeking relief of the penalties, which are set in state law.

The legislative effort follows several years of groundwork by housing advocacy groups and the Quicken Loans Community Fund, which has funded door-to-door campaigns to educate low-income residents in Detroit on how they may qualify for an exemption of property taxes.

"The city's announcement today shows a clear commitment to increasing access to exemptions and dramatically simplifying payment plans," Laura Grannemann, vice president of strategic investments for the Quicken Loans Community Fund, said in a statement. "Once enacted by the state, this legislation will change the landscape for low-income Detroit homeowners."

The pool of homeowners who could qualify for the proposed relief would amount to "half of the city" residents facing potential foreclosure for unpaid taxes, Duggan said.

He acknowledged the proposed fee and interest penalty forgiveness program won't help every homeowner in Detroit who is struggling to pay back taxes and avert foreclosure.

"No matter what you do, you draw a line somewhere," Duggan told reporters.

Duggan also gets the politics: A conservative Republican-controlled Legislature is going to resist granting additional tax debt relief five years after lawmakers created the payment plan. He sees the very-low income threshold for relief as having the most "realistic chance" of passing.

"The easiest thing in the world as a politician is to stand up here and say, 'I'm for everything, for everyone,' when you know full well that when you actually get down to it, it's not likely to get passed," the mayor said at a news conference on the 32nd floor of the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit. "We'll see. By the time we're done in Lansing, this will probably get modified. If we get more votes by making it more attractive, we'll make it more attractive. If we get the votes to pass it by making it less attractive, we'll make it less attractive."

In 2014, Duggan's payment plan proposal ran into a buzz saw of opposition from rural county treasurers who didn't want to offer repayment plans, causing lawmakers to add a provision to the bill allowing counties to opt out of the law.

Duggan said Detroit and Wayne County have built a "track record and credibility" with the 2015 payment plan program to convince the Legislature to grant the additional tax relief.

Ultimately, any relief of tax bills also will deplete the coffers of city and county government. Officials estimate the relief would result in $3 million in less revenue.

"It's skin we're willing to give," Evans said.