DATE: February 20, 2018
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Oscar J. Garcia, CPA
Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector
SUBJECT: Disposition of Unclaimed Money
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Authorize the Treasurer to deposit money that was found on County property and have been unclaimed for a period of three years, as provided by Government Code sections 50050-50053.
REPORT
This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
There are no viable alternative actions. If the Board does not approve the above recommendation, the lost money will remain in a vault and is not eligible for deposit.
FISCAL IMPACT:
If approved, the money may be deposited into the County General Fund as discretionary revenue.
DISCUSSION:
On May 13, 2013, a member of the public entered the offices of the Clerk/Registar of Voters (“Clerk”) on 2221 Kern Street, Fresno CA, 93721. While there, the individual dropped twenty-one one-hundred dollar bills ($2,100).
Clerk staff noticed the money after the individual had departed and immediately contacted additional staff and a supervisor. Staff counted and documented the money and locked it up in a safe in the Clerk’s offices, in case the individual returned to claim the funds. Clerk staff discovered that the moment when the individual dropped the money was captured on security video, and investigated the matter further, to try and locate the individual. After Clerk staff exhausted their resources to locate the individual, they contacted the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector (“ACTTC”) inquiring as to what should be done with the money.
ACTTC staff reviewed the security video and documented what had occurred. The ACTTC then took possession of the money and locked it into Treasury’s safe on January 31, 2014. The ACTTC prepared a memorandum describing all of the events that occurred, and the chain of custody for the money from May 13, 2013, through January 31, 2014. A copy of that memorandum is on file in the offices of the ACTTC.
No person has returned to claim the money. After waiting three years for the individual to come forward with a claim, as provided by Government Code section 50050, the ACTTC gave notice to the public by publishing a notice in a newspaper of general distribution (The Business Journal) for two successive weeks, on December 18, 2017, and December 25, 2017. As required by Government Code section 50051, the notice stated the amount of the money, where it is held, and that it is proposed that the money will become the property of the County on February 5, 2018. The notice also informed the public who to contact for information about how to file a claim. The notice has also been published continuously on the County’s website since December 18, 2017, in the “Publications” section of the ACTTC portion of the website.
To date, the individual has not returned to the Clerk’s offices for the money, and the ACTTC has not received any claim for the money. Because it has been more than 45 days from the date when the notice described above was published, and no one has made a claim, the Board may direct staff to deposit the money into the General Fund, as provided in Government Code section 50053.
CAO ANALYST:
Juan Lopez