Unclaimed property being held by the state

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR

If you’re looking for some quick, easy money — and who isn’t? — you could buy a lottery ticket or visit a casino, but the odds are much greater that by checking the state’s unclaimed property database, you’ll come away a real winner.

“Generally speaking, it’s where somebody tried to mail you a check that you either did not receive or did not cash,” said Dale Folwell, a CPA who is currently serving in his second term as North Carolina’s state treasurer.

The treasurer’s office manages around $250 billion, most of which is related to state employee retirement funds or healthcare benefits, but it also manages around a billion dollars’ worth of waylaid property, and it’s not just about checks or cash.

“We've got some amazing stories of people who have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from life insurance policies that they didn't know they were the beneficiary of,” said Folwell. “The Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Motor Speedway — all kinds of folks have money there. There's actually as many entries as there are citizens.”

That’s right, millions of unclaimed items for individuals and businesses, including safe deposit boxes of deceased family members and loved ones. One such box produced irreplaceable WWII medals once thought lost forever.

“We had one watch I think that was recently returned that had Woodrow Wilson's name inscribed in it,” Folwell said.

In Haywood County alone, there are more than 74,000 unclaimed items totaling $5.3 million. Folwell wants to see all that stuff returned to its rightful owners, and can point to the success of the program statewide over

the past two years as a very good reason for you to check and see if you’re on the list.

In 2020, the division paid 56,787 claims statewide, for a total value of almost $40 million. In 2021, those numbers were approximately double, with 125,000 claims approved for more than $70 million. The average claim was $514, but most, according to treasurer’s office staff, are less than $200. Folwell expects 2022 to be another banner year.

“Last year, we broke all records and we're on course to break all records this year,” he said.

Searching the online database is free, and easy. Simply enter a last name, and then a first name, city or zip code if you have it. The search will produce a list, and if your name is on it, click the button to file your claim.

Since the database is public record, you can also search for the names of friends, loved ones, businesses or public bodies. A quick scan of the database listed unclaimed property belonging to the Haywood County

Unclaimed property in Western North Carolina

County Number of items Amount Haywood 74,438 $5,370,715 Jackson 42,843 $3,064,040 Macon 41,119 $3,283,539 Swain 20,917 $1,382,427

Source: NC Treasurer's office Chamber of Commerce, the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, Haywood County Schools, EMS, the library, tax collector, clerk of court and register of deeds. Many wellknown local businesses, like Haywood Builders Supply, are also on the list.

Amounts under $50 are listed but amounts above that aren’t, however, the database also lists who the money’s from, which may be an indicator of why it was sent.

To conduct a search of the state’s unclaimed property database, visit nccash.com.

Every state in the Union has an unclaimed property program, so if you’ve lived in multiple states it might be worthwhile to check those databases as well.

If you’re not on the list, you still might be able to get in on the action — ultimately, unclaimed property is auctioned off at yellowtagauctions.com.

Did you find your name in North Carolina’s unclaimed property database? Share your experience with us! After filing your claim, send an email to cory@smokymountainnews.com including details of the unclaimed property, the amount and the reason you never got the money in the first place. Submissions may be published in an upcoming follow-up story.

Democrats continue campaigning in NC-14

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR

Congressional maps are still hung up in court and candidate filing still hasn’t resumed, but that didn’t stop the five Democrats running for the open NC-14 seat from holding a forum on Jan. 8. And although the crop of candidates is largely the same as it has been for almost a year, it was their first forum without the specter of Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-Henderson, hanging over it.

In fact, Cawthorn was mentioned only once — by Buncombe County Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara — along with former representative and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, as examples of extremism.

Five questions were created by the NC-14 executive committee and delivered by moderator Aisha Adams, a program developer for the Lenoir-Rhyne Equity and Diversity Institute.

The first left candidates jockeying for position as the best candidate to connect with unaffiliated voters — Jay Carey as a military man with a bronze star, Eric Gash as an educator, Katie Dean as a blue-collar small business owner, Bo Hess as a service-minded social worker, and Beach Ferrara an elected official and experienced organizer who’d already won two tough races.

Health care remains perhaps the most important issue to voters, just as it has for more than a decade in a state where Medicaid expansion did not take place.

Gash and Hess cited infrastructure issues in the system — especially broadband — as critical to the industry’s future, while BeachFerrara talked about negotiating prescription drug prices and beefing up Medicare to include vision and dental coverage.

Carey suggested working around state governments that have denied Medicare expansion, but it was Dean who harshly criticized the unfettered capitalism inherent in the system. “Regardless of what our health care industry looks like, we have to untangle the Wall Street greed from our health care industry,” said Dean, who endured collarbone surgery without anesthesia to save $15,000. “Especially as that relates to increasing costs and decreasing care, because right now that’s what we’re facing.” The integrity of the state’s public education system is also a nearconstant concern for Democratic voters, and strengthening it is a continuing struggle. Carey offered a comprehensive set of initiatives focused on teachers, including increased pay, debt forgiveness, free two- or four-year college or vocational school and cancellation of up to $50,000 in student loan debt — an as-yet unfulfilled campaign promise made by President Joe Biden. Hess suggested adding social workers into the mix, and Dean attacked predatory student lending. BeachFerarra recommended tuition support for teachers agreeing to work in underserved areas. Gash, principal of the elementary school he attended as a child, said he sees a “stark difference” between kids who went to pre-school and kids who didn’t.

“We have to look at universal pre-K and early childhood education,” he said.

Affordable housing seems to underlie many of the region’s most pressing issues. Beach-Ferrara said she’d focus on job creation and workforce housing, as Carey blasted commissioners (and thereby, Beach-Ferrara) for approving the new Pratt & Whitney facility without requiring a $20 hourly wage. It’s $18.30, according to Carey. Gash and Dean seemed to agree on incentivizing developers, while Hess advocated for public-private partnerships.

“This all comes back to national security,” he said. “We cannot have a population that is hungry, that is cold, that is unsheltered on the streets. We must be educated, we must be healthy and we must rise to the 21st century issues and problems that we have facing us.”

The final question posed was maybe the Democrats’ most controversial issue, both within and without the party — the Green New Deal. Each of the candidates mentioned the deadly flooding in Cruso this past August, but didn’t agree on much else, including what, exactly, the Green New Deal actually is.

Dean called it a concept that could underlie all future legislation. Beach-Ferrara supports renewables and talked about working on the largest publicly funded solar program in the state, which will put solar panels on 40 publicly-owned buildings in Buncombe County. Gash is focused on green tech — batteries, solar, hydro and wind — and Hess on sustainable farming practices. Carey, who said he suspended his campaign to volunteer in Cruso for almost a month, set aggressive goals of zero-net carbon by 2030.

“We need to make these initiatives law,” he said, “and we need to enact them now.”

Watch the Jan. 8 forum in its entirety at facebook.com/nc11dems/videos.

NC-11/14 Democratic Party Chair Matt Ballance (center) speaks

before a Jan. 8 forum. Facebook photo