State Treasurer Stacy Garrity returned $97,563.25 in unclaimed property to Bucks County Treasurer Kristian Ballerini at the Bucks County Administration Building.
The total includes 426 individual property items that were identified as belonging to various entities within Bucks County government as part of a months-long review involving both offices.
The properties ranged in value from 24 cents to $6,000. The oldest dates to 1975, while some are as recent as 2016. They included balances of uncashed checks, credit balances and unused gift cards.
“It’s great to know that this money is back where it belongs and will be used by Bucks County to benefit its residents,” Garrity said. “The nearly $4 billion in unclaimed property at the Treasury doesn’t belong to us, and today’s event is a great example of how a little sleuthing can have a big impact on a whole community. I’m thrilled to work with Treasurer Ballerini and her staff to make this return possible.”
Garrity and Ballerini were joined at the announcement by state Sen. Steve Santarsiero and state Rep. Shelby Labs.
“The Unclaimed Property webpage is simple to access and search, but unfortunately it’s overlooked far too often,” Labs said. “I’m thrilled to see the unclaimed funds coming back to our community, and I hope this encourages residents to start a search for possible unclaimed property of their own.”
While the full amount of the return is being allocated to the county, Ballerini’s office will work at the direction of the county commissioners as to where the funds belong and how they will be allocated.
Garrity said she hopes to return a lot more money to the residents of Bucks County.
“Right now, we have $110 million waiting to be claimed by people who lived – and in many cases still live – in Bucks County,” she said. “I encourage everyone to go to the Treasury’s website, patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property, to see if any unclaimed property belongs to them.”
