NYS Comptroller Owed Unclaimed Funds?
The NYS Comptroller has a nifty website that allows users to search for unclaimed funds the state may be holding. In NY, if a company owes you money, and they aren’t able to locate you, they must turn the funds over to the NYS Comptroller, who then holds the funds until the recipient requests what they’re owed. So, before I begin, make sure you check to see if you’re owed money; unfortunately, I’m not.
I decided to search the unclaimed funds site for notable names. I can’t say with certainty that the people listed below are the elected officials we all know, but it seems unlikely all of them just happen to be regular citizens with the same name as an elected. So, please keep that caveat in mind when reading on. If you’re able to confirm or repudiate any of the entries listed below, please do so in the comments.
First off we have NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. He’s got three entries of unclaimed funds, listed on his website (1,2,3).
Next up is Joe Bruno. Over twenty entries come up when Bruno’s name is searched (Here’s just a sample).
Then we have Shelly Silver, he’s got four entries in the database (1,2,3,4).
Elliot Spitzer has one entry.
Locally, Sen. Joe Robach has two entries (1,2).
Finally, we have Monroe County. I’m certain some of these are owed to the Monroe County Government, since I know the address listed to be that of our county’s office building. I find it totally absurd that our county is stealing over $29 million from suburban school districts when they have over forty entries of unclaimed funds. Not all of these entries are simply for Monroe County; more than a few are owed to the Monroe County Clerk’s Office, Monroe County DSS, Monroe County Sheriff and the Monroe County Treasurer (this last one has been owed to Monroe County since 1992, that’s over 15 years!).
Unfortunately, the site won’t allow us to link directly to search results. Therefore, if you want to see the Monroe County list in its entirety, simply click here and type “Monroe County” in the name field.
So, here’s my question: how do we spend the interest earned on these unclaimed funds?
Make check payable to:
Rochester Turning.com
c/o Jrviper
Rochester, NY
Heck, we deserve a good old fashioned all religions invited holiday party, don’t we?
My name is on there,some cash I left in an account at Dime Banking on Clinton Ave. Now I just have to find something to prove I lived at the posted address 32 years ago.
My understanding is that they only pay interest for a certain number of years and then it just stays at that level.
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