$157,000 left unclaimed at Glendale City Hall

Tuesday may be the final day people can get their unclaimed checks from the city of Glendale, otherwise, they can kiss their collective $157,000 goodbye.

Of the 1,511 standing checks the city posted online in September, 74 worth tens of thousands of dollars have been claimed, city spokesman Tom Lorenz said in an email Monday.

The City Council is set to vote Tuesday on moving the remaining $157,000 — all of it unclaimed for years — to the General Fund, which pays for public services.

State law allows agencies to transfer unclaimed payouts to their general funds once the checks are three or more years past their issue date. Checks under $15 can be transferred within one year.

Some of the checks were never picked up at City Hall, while others were mailed to the recipient, but never cashed. The checks cover refunds for permits, fees and purchases. Some of the largest unclaimed checks include $3,250 to Kaplan Higher Education, $3,500 to Wax & Wax, a workers compensation law firm, and $2,525 to Columbia Pictures, according to a city report.

The checks still on the table at Glendale City Hall date back as far as 2002.

Glendale doesn’t typically post a list of outstanding checks on a consistent basis, but a recent uptick in public records requests for the information prompted officials to do so. Most of the requests come from companies that charge a fee to scour public records to find clients money, according to Lorenz.

To claim an outstanding check, recipients must fill out a form on the city’s website.