What started with Hollister’s Joan Sattler browsing a weekly Hollister Downtown Association email blast – which included a link to the state’s unclaimed property database – has spurred the local woman’s crusade to help others obtain their money.
Sattler a few weeks back – already curious about funding shortages locally after watching county budget hearings recently – noticed an HDA link to the state controller’s office website and its database that allows people, businesses or other organizations to enter names and find detailed results listing unclaimed property, mostly money.
From there, she looked up one person – Supervisor Margie Barrios – and found that the local official and her husband were owed about $200 from four separate claims.
Her response from the Barrios revelation?
“If that’s one person, let’s go for it,” she said.
Sattler since that point has been on a mission to identify potential recipients locally and communicate with organizations and government entities about getting the word out. She has done leg work of her own in the meantime – requesting San Benito County-specific information from the controller’s office – and was amazed that there is more than $2 million in unclaimed property here.
While there is all that cash out there for local residents – ranging from mere pennies to more than $25,000 – there was more than $500 million returned to owners in the last reported fiscal year, 2010-11.
That $2 million local amount includes more than 14,000 pending claims, she said. As part of her recent endeavor – which has included reaching out to a multitude of government, church, civic and business leaders to ask them for help in promoting the database – Sattler is also pushing the message that recipients should seriously consider donating their claims to local nonprofits.
Sattler herself is immersed in the nonprofit community and has been one of the biggest supporters locally of funding for the San Benito County Free Library.
“We know that these small increments can be extremely important to the individual that might well be accessing it,” Sattler said. “We also know that this country is absolutely built on small donations.”
She went on: “We want to see the monies going to the seniors programs, ‘Save the Music,’ the food bank.”
Some of those increments, as she alluded to, aren’t all that small. Sattler noted that she found 233 people or businesses each in line for at least $1,000 – with that subgroup’s total coming to $592,000.
She encouraged people who have money coming their way to spend it on groups to which they have associations, such as locals’ churches.
Sattler has been thrilled to deliver the news to the people or others on the list.
“This is fun. This is really fun,” she said. “I’m making Christmas for people.”
Although some people or groups might be in for pleasant surprises, Sattler’s efforts didn’t result in a jackpot for the organization that spurred her initiative – the HDA, which has a unclaimed property listing for 9 cents.
“Which I don’t think I’m going to take the time to fill out the application for,” quipped HDA Executive Director Brenda Weatherly, who called Sattler’s effort “great.”
Sattler also thanked everyone who has been cooperative and listed off such people as Weatherly, County Administrative Officer Rich Inman, City Manager Clint Quilter, Clerk-Auditor-Recorder Joe Paul Gonzalez, controller’s office press secretary Jacob Roper and others.
BY THE NUMBERS
$2.1 million: Dollars in unclaimed property in SBC
$217,538: Dollar amount for unclaimed property in San Juan
$175,572: Dollar amount for unclaimed property in Aromas
11,400: Number of potential claims for SBC
$516 million: Amount returned statewide in 2010-11
