The Colorado Department of the Treasury has announced an initiative to help cities and towns recover unclaimed funds through The Great Colorado Payback, following the enactment of HB 25-1224. The new legislation is designed to simplify the process for municipalities seeking to claim lost or forgotten assets.
“It’s not just people who have missing money—cities and counties do too,” said Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young. “We’re holding unclaimed funds for hundreds of local governments, and we want to get those dollars back to where they belong: in the community, powering local services.”
The Department maintains a database with more than 15 million unclaimed property listings, amounting to about $2 billion statewide. Municipalities ranging from large cities like Denver to small towns such as Dillon and Ault have funds available that have yet to be claimed.
Trevor Vaughn, Manager of Licensing for the City of Aurora, commented on improvements made by the state in handling these claims. “The unclaimed property process has improved substantially, and the Treasurer’s Office staff was instrumental in helping us navigate the process of claiming funds identified as belonging to the City,” he said. “Their support made it easy for us to secure these funds, and in doing so, we’ve been able to demonstrate to our residents that we steward public resources in a timely and responsible manner.”
During the previous fiscal year, more than $3.3 million was returned through 6,750 claims submitted by municipalities across Colorado. Notable amounts included $232,317 for Arapahoe County, $377,037 for Adams County, $161,247 for Boulder County, $1.67 million for Denver’s city and county government, and $224,042 for Pitkin County.
With HB 25-1224 now in effect, the Unclaimed Property Division will expand its proactive notification system beyond state agencies to include cities and counties. This aims to accelerate returning funds by directly alerting municipal officials when unclaimed money is validated under their jurisdiction.
Local officials can search for potential matches using their municipality’s name at https://greatcopayback.com/. If property is found under their name, they are encouraged to contact greatcopayback@state.co.us to begin working with the claims team.
Officials are advised to check this database annually since new assets are reported regularly; recovering these funds may support various local projects or services.
For additional details about claiming procedures or searching for unclaimed property listings managed by The Great Colorado Payback division within the Department of Treasury visit https://greatcopayback.com/.
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