Summersville, WV (WOAY) – West Virginia State Treasurer Larry Pack toured Nicholas and Clay counties Wednesday, presenting unclaimed property checks to local governments and organizations, including a check to the City of Summersville for $2,232.26.
Pack made three stops throughout the day, first visiting the Young Life Wild Ridge Camp in Nicholas County before arriving at Summersville City Hall, and then concluded the day at the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
The treasurer’s office holds more than $500 million in unclaimed property belonging to West Virginians.
“Unclaimed property is property that’s been presented to us. Whether it’s banks or insurance companies, different folks, that different companies have sent the money to us so that they can identify the rightful owners,” Pack said. “We have about over $500 million of West Virginians’ money in the state treasurer’s account.”
Summersville Mayor Dave Harper said he hopes the presentation encourages other local governments to look into whether they have unclaimed funds of their own.
“Here out of the blue, we’re going to get this much money,” Harper said. “There has to be some other municipalities out there that say, ‘Man, we must have something in there, too.’ So I’m hoping that they’ll start inquiring about it, you never know when a check might be delivered to them, too.”
Pack said the public presentations are intended to help raise awareness that money exists at the Treasury to be claimed.
“We want your viewers to go to the website, go down to ‘claim property’ and put their name and address in and just see if they have any unclaimed property so we can get it back,” Pack said.
West Virginians can search for unclaimed property at wvtreasury.gov by clicking “unclaimed property.”
