Finance committee backs move to void long-unclaimed city checks, sends recommendation to full council

The Lawrence Common Council Administrative Budget and Finance Committee voted March 19 to recommend that the full City Council approve voiding long-unclaimed city checks issued before Dec. 30, 2022, while staff finishes verification and required state notifications.

City Controller, Controller for the City of Lawrence, told the committee the office is identifying checks with three years of inactivity and cross-checking them with internal reports before formally voiding them. "So basically, the checks that are voided, they are checks that are 3 years [old]," the controller said, describing the internal process of using a void payment edit listing and a void payment post listing to confirm which items qualify.

The controller said state rules treat truly unclaimed checks as unclaimed property and require filing with the…