How to get your unclaimed Ohio funds before they go to the Cleveland Browns
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Just months after Ohio overhauled its unclaimed funds' website to make it easier for people to find money they are owed, Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a budget bill that allows $600 million of the fund to go to the Cleveland Browns for a new stadium.
In April, the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Unclaimed Funds announced that its new and improved unclaimed funds site was available for people to search and retrieve their assets. The department noted in a news release at the time that using the updated system, individuals can search for missing money, upload necessary paperwork and track their claim status without leaving the state’s website.
According to the Division of Unclaimed Funds, lost assets include things such as dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, stocks and bonds, utility deposits, or unclaimed wages. Currently, the state is holding $4.8 billion in the fund.
Ohio's new budget includes $1 billion of those funds to go to cultural and sports facilities. This gives the owners of Cleveland's NFL team the ability to use $600 million to move from the city's downtown lakefront to suburban Brook Park, where an indoor stadium will be built.
“I said from the beginning that my goal was to make sure that no longer do we use general fund taxpayer dollars to support stadiums in the state of Ohio,” DeWine said Tuesday. “This budget creates a new fund; this new fund will not only support major league sports facilities, but also minor league facilities, cultural facilities, playhouses, symphonies, and other concert venues. This is a win for taxpayers, and it will provide significant money for things that improve the quality of life in Ohio.”
Days before the bill's signing, former Ohio attorney general Marc Dann and former state representative Jeffrey A. Crossman announced that they would challenge the legality of using lost assets to pay for a new Browns football stadium. The class action lawsuit asserts that the “state intends to confiscate this private property for the purpose of funding a private development without any public purpose and will deprive the rightful owners of their property.”
“The majority in the General Assembly, and the governor may think it’s acceptable to pick the pockets of Ohio’s working families to reward billionaire Jimmy Haslam for his huge political contributions, but we think it’s fundamentally wrong,” Dann said in the news release.
The primary owners of the Browns are Jimmy Haslam and his wife, Dee, who also are the primary owners of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer.
Ohio lawmakers have defended the use of unclaimed funds, pointing to previous occasions Ohio has tapped the fund.
“There are at least a dozen times in the past when the state has taken money from the unclaimed funds and in some cases, emergency situations,” Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said. “So this is not the first time, and we didn't recall any challenges to those occasions when that money was used.”
However, Dann and Crossman cite a nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission report that concluded there are “little to no tangible impacts of sports teams and facilities on local economic activity.”
“The law is unambiguous: before the government can take someone’s private property, there must be a public use for the taking,” said Crossman. “Here, there’s no public use — this is just a payout to a billionaire.”
While the new budget might not impact Ohioans who are owed money, it is always better to claim missing money sooner rather than later. See the steps below to find and claim forgotten funds:
How to search for unclaimed funds
The Division of Unclaimed Funds recommends using this three-step process:
• Search for unclaimed funds and generate a claim form by accessing the new system at com.ohio.gov/UnclaimedFunds.
• Review and gather the required documentation.
• Submit the claim form and any documents by mail or upload them directly through the system.