Glendale officials: come get your money or risk losing it

Glendale has about $280,000 in payouts that if left unclaimed — some of them since 2002 — will be transferred to the city’s General Fund.

City officials recently posted the list of 1,510 unclaimed checks on its website in an effort to reach their rightful owners.

“The money has always been sitting there, it’s not ours,” city spokesman Tom Lorenz said in an email. “It’s encumbered to these parties.”

There currently is no deadline to claim the money, but the city plans to post an official public notice soon about the unclaimed checks that will include a deadline, Lorenz added.

State law allows agencies to transfer unclaimed payouts to their general funds — which pay for most public services and operations — once the checks are three or more years past their issue date.

The city doesn’t consistently post such a list, but a recent uptick in public records requests for unclaimed checks encouraged officials to do so, Lorenz said.

Most of the requests come from companies that charge a fee to scour public records to find clients money.

Some of the checks were never picked up at City Hall and others were mailed to the recipient, but never cashed. The checks range from around $50 to thousands of dollars and cover refunds for permits, fees and purchases.

The largest unclaimed check is for $17,457.20 to Mervyns LLC from a business lighting fund connected to Glendale Water & Power. Mervyns filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008.

Those who want to get their money must fill out a form and mail it back to City Hall. The form is available on the city’s website, www.ci.glendale.ca.us.