West Chester, PA — State Senator Carolyn Comitta and Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity recently announced that nearly $15,000 in unclaimed property has been returned to the Borough of West Chester in Chester County.
“We are always happy to help return unclaimed property to its rightful owners, in this case the people and taxpayers of West Chester Borough. Our office regularly works to identify local municipalities, school districts, nonprofits, and others who have unclaimed property and connect them with the Pennsylvania Treasury to expedite the process,” Comitta said. “We appreciate the Treasury and its staff for their ongoing efforts to reunite people and entities with their unclaimed assets.”
“Working with Senator Comitta to return this money to West Chester was an absolute pleasure,” Treasurer Garrity said. “One of my top priorities is getting the more than $4.5 billion of unclaimed property in Treasury’s vault back to its rightful owners – whether that be individuals, businesses, nonprofits, or local government agencies like the borough. It’s great news that this money can now be put to good use for the residents of West Chester.”
The $14,858.56 returned to West Chester includes 29 individual properties ranging in value from $9.19 to $6,904. The oldest property dates back to 2001, while the most recent is from 2020. Properties returned include funds from accounts payable checks, cashier’s checks, claims payment checks, credit balances, escrow accounts, premium refunds, refunds/rebates, and uncashed checks. How the funds are spent will be determined by borough officials.
Treasurer Garrity has returned more than $17.7 million to nearly 100 local government agencies, including counties and municipalities.
Treasury is working to return more than $4.5 billion in unclaimed property to its rightful owners. More than one in ten Pennsylvanians is owed unclaimed property, and the average claim is worth about $1,600.
Unclaimed property can include dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, insurance policies, contents of forgotten safe deposit boxes and more. State law requires businesses to report unclaimed property to Treasury after three years of dormancy.
Treasury keeps tangible unclaimed property for about three years before it is auctioned. Auction proceeds are kept in perpetuity for owners to claim. Military decorations and memorabilia are never auctioned.
To learn more about unclaimed property or to search Treasury’s database, visit patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property.