San Benito County publishes list for a total of $194,000 in unclaimed money
More than $194,000 in uncashed checks are awaiting their rightful owners, and 45 days from Friday – if still unclaimed – they are headed back to the county. One of the highest-valued, uncashed checks in the county is owed to Tina Bertuccio, who will not be one of those San Benito County residents missing out on an uncashed slip of paper.
When her husband Paul passed away several years back, Bertuccio expected money to come but didn’t know how much. The county now owes her $8,190 – which she found out this week.
“Oh,” said Bertuccio, when she learned of the amount from the Free Lance. “Well, I sure could use it. That’s for sure.”
Bertuccio doesn’t drive now and she doesn’t use the computer, so she never saw the list of vendors and individuals with uncashed checks posted several weeks ago on the San Benito County Auditor-Controller’s website.
The checks come from a variety of county accounts including property taxes, special programs, the general fund and money from non-county programs.
Reasons vary for hundreds of county checks, dating back as far as 2004, remaining unclaimed. Some were written and never cashed. Others were likely lost or forgotten.
One of the unclaimed checks is worth $43,274.76 and was written to Long Term Care Workers Health in 2008, but the funds remain unclaimed and uncashed six years later.
“I saw that number and I thought, ‘whoa’… I don’t know what the circumstances are on that check. It could be a terrible oversight,” said Mary Lou Andrade, the San Benito County treasurer, tax collector and public administrator, with a laugh.
“I don’t know why that would remain uncashed,” said Leann Godinez, the account clerk with the county office who helped prepare the list of uncashed checks. “Honestly, I can’t say that there is any specific reason.”
Since the list was published online three or four weeks ago, the office has received no claims, said Godinez.
The list includes any unclaimed check that is more than three years old and is worth more than $15, she said. Government code mandates that a list of uncashed checks gets published in a newspaper of general circulation at least 45 days before the funds are taken and dispersed to the county.
The list of vendors and individuals with uncashed checks will appear in the Free Lance this week and next week in the Legals section. No fee is required to claim the money. For information or to check the list, residents also can go to sbcvote.us/auditor/UncashedChecks.htm.
For Bertuccio, it’s a little extra cash that should have arrived back in 2004, but will likely make its way to her now nearly 10 years later.
“My first move is, what now?” said Bertuccio as she contemplated how to get the instructions for picking up her large check without having access to a computer.
Bertuccio plans to pick up a copy of printed instructions for how to claim her check this week at the Free Lance.
