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 Indiana Unclaimed Property Division and the Indiana Attorney General. For general business, the controller said filings occur by Nov. 1; for life-insurance agencies, filings are due by May 1. The office will attempt to contact payees for checks over $50 "no more than 180 days and no less than 60 days before filing the report," the controller said. Attempts include first-class mail and phone calls.

Why it matters: voiding and reporting long-unclaimed checks is a statutory compliance task that moves funds out of city accounting into the state's unclaimed-property process if owners cannot be located. Committee members pressed staff for details on how the city will validate the list and whether funds would return to city reserves; the controller said money treated as unclaimed property does not revert to city reserves once filed and instead becomes subject to the state's process.

Committee members also asked about practical issues such as watermarking or language on city checks and whether the city could move more payees to direct deposit. The controller said initial conversations with the city's bank are ongoing but noted procedural hurdles: vouchers the council reviews currently include check numbers and would require a process change if wire transfers or direct deposit became standard.

Several members raised procedural questions about timing and the accuracy of the list provided to the committee. The controller said the accounts office is validating each item to ensure it meets the three-year inactivity threshold and will not reissue checks that have already been filed with the Attorney General. The committee asked for totals and a validated aggregate amount; the controller said the total dollar amount of checks to be voided was not specified in the materials handed out and remains under verification.

Votes at a glance: On a motion "to move to the council, favorable," made from the floor, the committee recorded a second, and the chair called the question. "Ayes have it," the committee recorded; members present voted in favor and the committee recommended the measure for consideration by the full council.

What comes next: Staff will finish verifying the list, attempt required outreach to payees, and — if notices and waiting periods lapse with no claim — proceed with the state's unclaimed-property filing schedule. The controller said she will work with Council President Kramer on placing the broader 2024 budget overview on the next council agenda.