State puts abandoned items up for bid
Ever wonder what happens to the stuff in safe deposit boxes when the owners disappear?
It goes to Olympia. After at least five years of no payment and no contact with the owners, banks and credit unions can turn the items over to the state Department of Revenue.
Revenue officials hold onto it for up to five more years, then they auction the stuff off. The state holds the money, which it will turn over if the owner ever steps forward.
“We’ve had some success in reuniting rightful owners with their personal valuables, but many items have gone unclaimed despite our best efforts,” said DOR head Cindi Holmstrom.
Today and Friday, Murphy Auctions in Kenmore will auction off hundreds of items that were abandoned in bank vaults.
Much of the items are what you’d expect: pocket watches, stamps, baseball cards, lots of old coins, silver bars, old newspapers, gold nuggets, photos, and silver baby spoons. A letter from Abraham Lincoln turned out to be a fake, but a $1,000 bill was real.
Among the unusual items: Animal teeth large and small, as well as three sets of vintage false teeth, a bottle of cheap champagne, and some battered brass knuckles. (Links to photos of all these things are on my Web site, www.eyeonolympia.com.)
It gets even stranger. Several people apparently kept their cell phones in safe deposit boxes, and one person stored a plain-looking set of nail clippers in a bank safe. Someone else stored a magazine for a .45 automatic and some hex wrenches. And the treasures to be auctioned off today include both a “Hits of the Eagles” karaoke CD and, yes, a karaoke machine to play that CD on.
Washington state holds $650 million in unclaimed property belonging to about 3 million people. The vast majority of it is cash, resulting from abandoned bank accounts, stocks, bonds, uncashed payroll checks, old utility deposits and other abandoned property. Some of the property dates back the 1950s.
New property is constantly being turned in, but a big push by the Department of Revenue to track down owners has resulted in more than $112 million going back to 240,000 owners in the last three years.
Want to see if you’re on the list for some cash? Go to http://ucp.dor.wa.gov and type in your name or business’ name. Or call the Department of Revenue’s unclaimed property staff at (800) 435-2429.
School advocates propose tax hikes
Despite economic tough times, schools can’t wait for more money. So argues the “Full Funding Coalition,” a K-12 school advocacy group that includes the associations representing teachers, principals, administrators, school staffers and school board members. Good schools are the best hope for the future, proponents say, and shortchanging them is foolhardy.
The coalition proposes two ways to raise hundreds of millions of dollars more for education:
•setting aside any future state revenue increases over 5 percent a year for schools.
•and increasing state property taxes.
Dan Grimm, the chairman of a task force that’s been studying school funding and that’s recommending $3 billion in new spending on schools, says he’ll propose tax increases to match his own proposals. He’s suggesting a tax on services, like medical care or legal work.
Environmental regulators now carrying police-style ticket books
Inspectors from the Washington state Department of Ecology have started carrying ticket books when they check for water pollution at construction sites, industrial operations or sand and gravel mines. The tickets carry fines of $500 to $3,000.
On field visits, the agency says, it’s common to find oil spills, muddy runoff pouring out of construction sites and similar problems. Being able to write a ticket on the spot “will provide near-immediate consequences,” water quality program manager Kelly Susewind said.