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Dawn Marie Sass
If you see your name on Pages 98-12B of today's Janesville Gazette, you can request a claim form online at www.statetreasury.wisconsin.gov or by calling the Office of the State Treasurer at 1-877-699-9211.
Even if your name isn't on the current list, State Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass encourages you to visit the much larger state database at the Web site.
Dawn Marie Sass
JANESVILLE — Dawn Marie Sass said it's likely the 1,200 Rock County residents whose names are printed in today's Janesville Gazette could use their share of millions of dollars in unclaimed property.
After all, the state treasurer said, the property is only a phone call or online visit away.
Each year, the state publishes the names of people who have unclaimed property. This year, the state is printing the names of 54,000 Wisconsinites who have a share in $37.5 million in unclaimed property.
Unclaimed property can be checks, utility deposits, security deposits, stocks, bonds, dividend checks and items found in abandoned safe deposit boxes. After a business has held unclaimed property for a number of years, it must turn it over to the state treasurer where it is held until the rightful owner comes forward.
Sass said the vault in her office is lined with uncashed savings bonds and paychecks, dividend proceeds from long-lost life insurance policies and other sorts of valuables.
"We've got stamp collections, watches, all kinds of jewelry," Sass said. "We don't keep too much cash lying around; that gets deposited on the person's behalf."
Last year, the state paidout a record $28 million in unclaimed property to more than 25,000 claimants.
"We have assets which belong to citizens in every city and village across the state," Sass said.
Pages 9B through 12B of today's Gazette includes the names of 1,200 residents or business added to the state's database in 2008.
But that's the tip of the iceberg, said Sass, who each year spends weekends traveling to each of the state's 72 counties to make people aware of the unclaimed property.
The state maintains on online database that holds more than 30 years' worth of unclaimed property for more than 1 million people or businesses. The total of the unclaimed property tops $352 million.
For Rock County, the database has nearly 30,000 names of people who own property valued at more than $4 million.
Many people see the state's annual listings of unclaimed property but don't take any action because they think it's a scam, Sass said.
"It's not a scam, but it can seem a little daunting," she said. "At first glance, there's a lot of printing and disclaimers, but it's not at all that bad.
"All they have to do is prove to us that they lived at the address listed, and they can claim the property."