Board Converts Excess Tax Receipts into County Cash

The Board of Supervisors agreed today to deposit $879,428 in property tax overpayments into the general fund, after Riverside County Treasurer-Tax Collector Don Kent confirmed that attempts had been made to notify claimants.

Kent told the board that more than 500 claimants came forward in response to online and print advertisements posted between May and August to make the public aware of the unclaimed funds. The tax collector’s office had started off with $2.3 million in unclaimed money.

In some cases, Kent said, staffers phoned prospective claimants to ensure they knew about the funds.

“We’re using technology in our office to look for folks who owe property taxes,’’ he said. “But we’re also using that technology to get money back to people.’’

In previous years, supervisors expressed concern that too many overpayments were being converted to county general fund dollars without sufficient effort on the part of county staff to notify residents and businesses about the owed money.

Last year, Kent began extending the claims period by an extra month, on top of the three-month grace period already in place.

Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said today that he still felt more could be done, noting that La Sierra University in Riverside had about $10,000 in unclaimed money listed on the tax collector’s roll.

“There’s got to be a way to improve this,’’ Jeffries said. “I can’t imagine people willing to walk away from that amount of money.’’

Overpayments resulted from changes in the tax roll that occurred between the time a bill was due and when it was paid.

According to a list published on the treasurer’s website, the amounts available to be claimed ranged from $10.32 to $77,384, and the tax years spanned from 2003 to 2010.

Several companies and individuals were mentioned multiple times. Familiar names on the list included the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, Starbucks, Time-Warner Cable, US Bank -- and the United States Treasury Department.

Under state law, a county must hold unclaimed property tax overpayments in abeyance for at least four years before placing the funds in an active account for discretionary use.

The Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office maintains a list of entities with unclaimed funds here.

By City News Service

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