State program seeing big returns

By Michael McNutt

Published: October 9, 2007

Nearly $1 million held by the state has been returned to more than 1,300 people attending state fairs in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the state treasurer's office said Monday.

During the Tulsa State Fair, which ended Sunday, $468,031 was found for 691 people, according to the treasurer's office. About $493,000 was found for 640 people who attended last month's Oklahoma State Fair Centennial Expo.

The money came from the state's Unclaimed Property Fund, which is managed by the treasurer's office.

The largest, single amount found during the Tulsa fair was $75,600 in stock for a Tulsa man, agency spokesman Tim Allen said. The treasurer's office still had the 2,400 shares of Smithfield Foods stock, he said.

The most money claimed during the Oklahoma State Fair was $30,000 for a Norman man who had lost track of some AT&T stock, which ended up in the state's Unclaimed Property Fund. The treasurer's office had sold the stocks and placed the cash in the fund.

The amount returned during this year's Tulsa fair is almost as much as the treasurer's office found for fairgoers the previous two years, Allen said.

In the seven years at the state fair and three years at the Tulsa fair, the treasurer's office returned almost $3 million, Allen said.

"The response in Tulsa this year was most impressive,” state Treasurer Scott Meacham said. "People are apparently becoming more familiar with our booth — and the fact that our service is absolutely free. All we're trying to do is return lost money to its rightful owners.”

Meacham, administrator of the Unclaimed Property Fund, is holding about $175 million for about 350,000 Oklahomans.

Since becoming state treasurer in 2005, Meacham has returned more than $30 million to more than 35,000 Oklahomans through various outreach efforts such as the state fairs, publishing in the newspaper the names of those with unclaimed property and an online searchable database at www.treasurer.ok.gov.

Unclaimed property includes bank accounts, security deposits, uncashed paychecks, overpayments, royalties, rebates, stock, bonds and safe deposit box contents.

The money and property are brought to the treasurer's office when the businesses holding them lose track of the owners.

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