City cashes in on unclaimed checks

Eighteen people got a collective $11,470 back from the city at the last minute Tuesday before about $157,000 in unclaimed checks got shuffled into the city’s General Fund, which pays for public services.

The City Council unanimously approved moving the balance to city coffers on Tuesday after Glendale held on to the unclaimed checks for years. The city had issued several calls leading up to the meeting to give the public one last chance.

“We got several calls from people [Tuesday] to check if they were on the list,” said city spokesman Tom Lorenz.

In September, Glendale officials posted a list of 1,511 unclaimed checks that totaled more than $280,000. Many of the checks were never picked up at City Hall or mailed, but never cashed.

Before Tuesday, 74 checks totaling $56,651 had been claimed by their rightful owners. The amounts, which ranged from $1 to more than $1,000, dated back to 2002.

Some unclaimed checks of more than $15 were on the original list but weren’t more than three years old, so they couldn’t be transferred to the General Fund yet, Lorenz said.

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.