A-B Tech has a nearly $406 million annual economic impact in the Western Gateway Region, according to a recent analysis. State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, visited the campus on Sunday, June 9, and added several thousand dollars to impact the community college’s bottom line.
Money that has become undeliverable for a variety of reasons is safeguarded at the Unclaimed Property Division (UPD) of the Department of State Treasurer (DST) until the rightful owners claim it. During a review of data in UPD, commonly called NCCash.com, DST staff identified $7,050.71 belonging to Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, which serves just over 21,000 credit, noncredit and basic skills students on a 145-acre campus.
Treasurer Folwell, who sits on the State Board of the N.C. Community College System overseeing budgets, capital projects and curricula at the state’s 58 community colleges, said it was an honor to return the money to an institution that is vital to Western North Carolina.
“A-B Tech has been serving the needs of the area for more than six decades. It not only promotes economic growth through jobs and business partnerships, but serves to educate and retain students prepared for the area job market, preventing the brain drain that affects many rural counties across the U.S.,” Treasurer Folwell said. “The economic impact analysis shows an associate degree graduate from A-B Tech will achieve annual earnings that eclipse those of a high school graduate by $7,700.”
Under state law, NCCash.com is currently safeguarding nearly $1.3 billion in funds that are escheated, or turned over, to DST. The money is awaiting return to the rightful owners after being lost, misdirected or overlooked. It represents 22.1 million properties statewide, and more than 25 million owners are associated with those properties. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023, UPD paid 193,319 claims totaling $108,586,512, both historical records for a one-year period. It is on track to set a new record for the fiscal year that started July 1, 2023. UPD has now paid 121,305 claims totaling $97,848,295 through April 30.
The unclaimed property consists of bank accounts, wages, utility deposits, insurance policy proceeds, stocks, bonds and contents of safe deposit boxes that have been abandoned.
Unclaimed property can result from a person or entity forgetting they are due money, or from a move of location and forgetting to provide a new address. It also could result from a typing error in a house number or zip code in an address, a name change, or data loss from a business converting its computer system. As society becomes more mobile and steadily moves to electronic transactions, the risk of having unclaimed property has increased.