Treasury briefing covers abandoned property, scholarships, trust funds and debt; treasurer seeks statutory tweak for assistant appointments

The State Treasurer’s office updated the Finance - Division I committee on a range of treasury programs — abandoned property collections, scholarship trust funds, dedicated endowments, the Benjamin Thompson trust, LCHIP, and debt‑service planning — and requested a statutory change to permit more assistant treasurer appointments.

Treasurer Mosabelli (presented as Treasurer Mosabelli in the hearing) described abandoned property (escheat) collections and outreach. She said the state publishes newly collected properties in the Union Leader per statute and has also tried advertising to increase owner claims. On the timing and accounting of escheated funds, she summarized the statutory treatment: funds unclaimed after three years may be treated as abandoned and escheated to the general fund, but owners can still reclaim funds later; Treasury records both returned claims and funds escheated to the general fund.

On outreach costs, committee members asked about advertising expenses for the Union Leader; Treasury staff estimated the advertising line in the abandoned‑property program at roughly $25,000–$30,000 annually and said the program also uses national media events and outreach to return property.

Treasury reviewed the College Tuition Savings Plan advisory work and scholarship trust funds. The office described two scholarship streams: funds tied to the Fidelity 529 program (the Excellence in Higher Education Trust Fund) and the Governor’s Scholarship Fund. Treasury officials said fiscal year 2026 scholarship awards had already been promised to students for financial aid packaging and that unspent trust funds are carried forward to meet multi‑year awards.

On the Benjamin Thompson trust (a long‑standing fund historically administered by the treasury for University of New Hampshire beneficiaries), the treasurer said the administration is exploring transferring custody to the UNH Foundation and would need statutory changes to change custody and payment rules. The treasurer told the committee the existing statutory payout schedule may not match contemporary needs and needs legislative revision before transferring custody.

Treasury staff discussed LCHIP and a related community conservation endowment and said the program has variable annual revenues tied to real estate activity; LCHIP grants and stewardship endowments are competitive and frequently fully expended by the board.

On debt service and capital planning, Treasury staff explained how debt issuance, refundings and debt service assumptions feed into the governor’s capital and operating proposals. Staff said refunding candidates are reviewed for net present‑value savings and noted they are evaluating roughly $80 million in callable bonds for potential refunding; preliminary analysis suggested potential net present‑value savings on the order of a few million dollars if market conditions are favorable.

The treasurer made two statutory requests to the committee: a housekeeping request to include debt‑service classes in language that permits certain budget lines to lapse at the end of the biennium rather than at fiscal‑year end, and a change to RSA 6:20‑a to remove the numeric limit on assistant treasurer appointments so the treasurer may reclassify and appoint one additional assistant treasurer without expanding salary scales. Treasurers staff said the proposed reclassification would be essentially lateral (no substantive salary increase) and would allow management flexibility for overtime and operational coverage.

Lawmakers asked for follow up materials, including historical abandoned‑property return and collection figures and detail on dedicated fund balances such as the Benjamin Thompson fund and scholarship trusts. Several committee members discussed larger budget tradeoffs — debt affordability, rainy‑day funds and potential statewide fiscal pressures — during the session.