Eastern Shore Tax Filers Get Reprieve

BERLIN - Comptroller Peter Franchot extended the deadline for electronic filing of state taxes for residents of nine Eastern Shore counties who had Internet and phone service problems Tuesday night.

The extension to midnight Thursday applied to those living in Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester counties who file electronically, the comptroller said.

AT&T spokeswoman Alexa Kaufman said someone cut the line while digging in Finksburg Tuesday. The company is investigating the incident and the number of customers affected was not immediately known, the spokeswoman said.

AT&T owns the line, but other telecommunications companies use the same line and other services provided by those companies may have been affected, the spokeswoman said.

AT&T data services and text messaging were not affected, but some wireless customers had trouble making calls to landlines. Service was restored by early Wednesday morning, the spokeswoman said.