“By every definition, FY 2004 was an outstanding year for the
Unclaimed Property Office and for the 24,000 people who received paid
claims,” said Treasurer McCormac. “Under the guidance of
Assistant Division Director Steve Sylvester and UP Office Chief Steve
Harris, Taxation returned more than $55 million to rightful property
owners in the last fiscal year, the largest one year total in State
history,” he said.
“Our success is attributed in no small part to the Legislature’s
efforts to putting the true property owners’ rights first,” said
Director Thompson. “Shortening the abandonment period for many
assets from ten and five years to three years made the UP Office’s
job of locating rightful owners faster and easier. I also commend the
forward thinking of employees in Unclaimed Property, and credit proactive
managers who have redoubled efforts to ensure that property is returned
to the rightful owners as quickly as possible,” he said.
Thompson also credited the record year with increasingly aggressive
outreach efforts, which included dispatching staff to public sporting
events, county fairs and other venues to conduct on-site, on-demand
database searches for unclaimed property.
Assistant
Director Sylvester noted that the fundamental goal of the unclaimed
property program is to safeguard the rights
of property
owners
and to return the unclaimed property to them, with interest. “The
law protects consumers from the loss of bank accounts, payroll checks,
utility deposits, and many other types of property,” Sylvester
said. Following a period of dormancy, the holdings are remitted for
safekeeping to Taxation’s Unclaimed Property Office, which maintains
the State’s online searchable
Data base for abandoned assets. For FY 2004, Sylvester said the claims
section returned $55.2 million to 23,910 of claimants.
Office
Chief Harris added that FY 2004 marked the first time that UP conducted
public auctions for abandoned articles. The office
held
two auctions during the fiscal year, netting $216,000 for rightful
claimants. “We conduct auctions only after exhausting all efforts
to locate rightful owners. The proceeds we collect are placed into
the trust account, where they accrue interest until the rightful
claimants or heirs are located,” said Harris. He added that
the auctioned items are typically contents from safe deposit boxes
that date back up to several decades.
