State Has $3,800 Belonging to the City of Elk Grove

Officials in Elk Grove are owed thousands of dollars by the state of California, and all they have to do to claim it is send in a few forms.

The state's unclaimed property collection totals $6 billion, and State Controller John Chiang is on a mission to find the 17.6 million owners of this treasure trove.

"In many cases, businesses have lost contact with the customer and sent the account to the state for safekeeping," said Chiang in a video message about the state's unclaimed property.

Much of the unclaimed property comes from safety deposit boxes and lost or forgotten financial accounts, which includes:

• cash in inactive bank accounts
• overpayments to businesses.
• terminated insurance policies, stocks, securities and utility deposits

A search on the state's unclaimed property website returns $3,833.54 owed to the city of Elk Grove, $375.13 owed to the Elk Grove Police Department, $87.10 owed to the Cosumnes Community Services District, $29 owed to the Cosumnes Fire Department and $336.23 owed to Cosumnes River College.

"We track these regularly and will be submitting a request for the current unclaimed property records," city spokeswoman Christine Brainerd said in an email.

The money owed to the city comes from about 10 sources, including checking accounts, vendor checks, an escow account and more.

Elk Grove Police Department spokesman Officer Chris Trim said the department was unaware of its unclaimed money and would send the info to the city's finance department for a follow-up. The cash owed to the police department come from an alarm payment and insurance companies.

To see if the state has property or cash belonging to you, visit ClaimIt.ca.gov.

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Patch staff contributed to this report.

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