Isbella Diaz
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) More and more states are turning to unclaimed property as a source of revenue to help balance their budgets.
D.C.’s neighbor, Delaware, has unclaimed property as its third largest source of revenue for the state, seizing it and throwing it to the bottom line.
So should Maryland be playing the same game as it’s neighbor? State comptroller Peter Franchot doesn’t think so.
When asked if Maryland taking over the unclaimed property of its citizens could be a budget-balancing act for the state, Franchot said he was not a fan of the idea.
Franchot found himself at the opposite end of the spectrum: passionate about returning the unclaimed property to Maryland citizens.
Why? “Because it’s their money,” said Franchot.
Franchot explained how a lot of states benefit from the unclaimed property by getting hold of it using laws that are not that dissimilar to those in Maryland.
“But they put it under a bushel basket and don’t tell anyone about it, so it’s never claimed by the owner,” Franchot explained.
Almost every state has a time frame with the property, usually about a year, by which they can then give that money to the state legislature to use for public policy programs. But there’s one catch, says Franchot:
“They owe the debt in perpetuity.”
In other words, yes, the state can use the money in unclaimed property towards their public policy expenditures, but they are obligated to give all of that money back should the citizen come back to reclaim it.
Each state takes a gamble, hoping that the unclaimed property will never be claimed, and a lot of it isn’t because the states never advertise it. In effect, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Franchot said it wasn’t so much the states spending of the money that was upsetting, but rather how those states were ignoring their obligation to inform their citizens of their property.
The Maryland comptroller has a list of all the people in the state of Maryland who have unclaimed property, and he encourages citizens to call anytime to see if they’re on it.
One Rockville woman recently called to discover she had over $1 million dollars worth of unclaimed property.
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