State treasurer outlines budget, unclaimed-property staffing request and housing, retirement, climate initiatives

State Treasurer Senator Biccek told the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 12 that the treasurer’s office budget meets the governor’s recommended target and is driven mainly by salary and benefit increases, especially health-care costs.

Biccek said the office manages about $1.7 billion in cash, processed roughly 3,000,000 payments in a year totaling about $8.5 billion, and earned about $109 million in interest in fiscal 2024. He said those investment earnings have become a significant revenue source for the state compared with a few years ago.

The treasurer emphasized the office’s work across divisions: treasury operations, retirement, unclaimed property and economic empowerment. He described the retirement systems as covering roughly 65,000 participants across state employee, teacher and municipal systems and paying more than $500 million in annual benefits. He said the office now manages about $290 million in OPEB (other post-employment benefits) prefunding and that recent reforms and contributions have improved pension- and OPEB-funding ratios, producing projected long-term savings.

Why it matters: The treasurer framed the budget as one that preserves operations while responding to rising personnel costs and expanded program activity, and he asked the committee to consider several targeted resource and language requests intended to increase the office’s ability to return money to Vermonters, support housing and climate recovery lending, and expand retirement access.

Unclaimed property: staffing request and payout threshold

Biccek highlighted a sharp rise in unclaimed property holdings and workload. He said the office currently holds about $130 million in unclaimed property and returned about $5.8 million to claimants in fiscal 2024, with a record number of claims (more than 19,000). He described the unclaimed-property unit as a four-person staff that is processing many more files per person than in prior decades and facing increased fraud and identity-verification complexity.

The treasurer asked the committee to approve two new positions…