Colorado Treasurer’s Office wants to help local governments recoup millions in lost funds
Madison Osberger-Low/The Aspen Times
The Colorado Treasurer’s Office is promoting a new streamlined practice for recouping lost assets that may belong to individuals, groups and government entities.
The office maintains a database of around $15 million unclaimed assets like uncashed checks, forgotten bank accounts, stocks and dividends, which total $2 billion. The assets are kept in the state’s Unclaimed Property Trust Fund.
After accounting for money the state has loaned itself from the fund to pay for certain programs, the account has around $1.2 billion in cash on hand. Through the Great Colorado Payback Program, the Treasury has sought to return those assets to their rightful owners, including local governments.
In a Wednesday news release, the office promoted a bill passed earlier this year that it says will make it easier for counties, cities, and towns to reclaim assets, such as forgotten state funding and old insurance payments.
The measure further modernized the process for claiming assets, expanding the Treasury’s practice of proactively alerting state departments after validating unclaimed funds to include local governments among other initiatives.
The office is urging local governments to respond quickly when contacted by the state’s Unclaimed Property Division to complete the claims process.
Last fiscal year, the payback program completed over 6,700 claims and returned more than $3.3 million to municipalities across Colorado, according to the Treasury. It has returned over $806 million in unclaimed assets over the course of the program’s history.
“We’re holding unclaimed funds for hundreds of local governments, and we want to get those dollars back to where they belong: in the community, powering local services,” Treasurer Dave Young said in a statement.
New unclaimed funds are regularly reported to the division, and officials are encouraged to check the database annually for missing money.
Local officials can search for unclaimed property at GreatCOPayback.com and can email the
Unclaimed Property Division at greatcopayback@state.co.us to work with the claims team.
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