Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt offers new data match feature

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net) 1,968 views 

A man walked into the State Auditor Mobile Office in Mountain Home one day to see if he had any claim to money dispersed through the Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt. About one in four Arkansans have money owed to them through this program.

It might be an unclaimed work check, a utility deposit they forgot to claim after they moved, inheritance from a relative that was unknown and several others. The Auditor’s Office is charged with holding these unclaimed funds until an heir comes forward to claim them.

The man said he was sure he had nothing to claim, but he ended up receiving $27,000, State Auditor Dennis Milligan told Talk Business & Politics. Residents can click this link to see if they have unclaimed funds owed to them.

“It one of the great parts of my job to get these funds back to the people,” Milligan said.

The Auditor’s Office has about $400 million in unclaimed funds, he said. One of his goals coming into office was to be more proactive about dispersing these funds, he said. One step he took was to have mobile offices setup for a day in different towns and cities around the state.

The mobile office was in Batesville on Thursday (July 24). About $1.9 million is owed to residents in Independence County alone.

These expanded efforts by the office have led to $85 million being dispersed during his term, which is more than the office dispersed the previous five years combined, Milligan said.

The office is about to utilize another tool to help accelerate its efforts. The Data Match program will allow Milligan’s office to send out checks. Those checks range from $50 to $5,000.

This new initiative will launch Aug. 5. Recipients will first receive a letter from the Auditor’s Office to confirm that they are the legal heir to the funds. Once that is established, they will receive a check a few weeks later. Once the program is up and running, up to 7,000 checks could be mailed weekly, he said.

About $83 million is owed in this range, he added.

Milligan’s office also has to store unclaimed physical property. When a safety deposit box at a bank is abandoned by its owners for whatever reason, the contents of those boxes have to be stored in a vault with the state auditor.

Gold and silver bars, expensive watches, jewelry, war medals and even a Babe Ruth signed baseball are among the contents in the vault. However, they are running out of space and will hold an auction in August to create space.

If an heir is discovered let’s say for the Babe Ruth signed baseball after the auction, that person will get the exact amount the baseball sold for, Milligan said.

What’s the most surprising thing for most people in the state about the Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt?

“Most people just aren’t aware of it. It’s their money. They deserve it,” Milligan said.

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