Government’s Unclaimed Funds Stash Totals $41.9 million

During a July 27th session of the Committee of Fiance, in which representatives of the Lt. Governor’s Office presented their budget for fiscal year 2023, Glendina Matthew, the interim director of the LGO’s Division of Banking, Insurance and Financial Regulation told lawmakers that an additional $26 million remains in a special account for unclaimed property.

Another $15.9 million remains in yet another separate trust account, which brings the combined total value in unclaimed property to just shy of $42 million. While that money remains available for reclamation in these two government accounts, many individuals may have no clue that their unclaimed property exists.

The Virgin Islands Code requires that the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, which serves as administrator of the unclaimed funds, publish an annual listing of unclaimed property, along with relevant details, in a newspaper of general circulation. But the LGO admits it has failed to publish an updated listing of unclaimed property and listed owners in 10 years.

These revelations came through the result of research and a series of formal inquiries from Senator Alma Francis Heyliger dating back over a year ago. Her findings ultimately resulted in new legislation designed to make these records publicly available online, which she sponsored.

“This piece of legislation provides a tool for Virgin Islanders to search for and reunite with assets that rightfully belong to them, but have remained under the control of the government without sufficient notice in about a decade,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger in a press release following the 34th Legislature’s passage of Bill No. 34-0212.

The bill was widely praised and unanimously passed by the Legislature and now awaits further consideration and execution into the VI Code by the Governor. In the meantime, Sen. Francis Heyliger has already begun to follow up with representatives of the Office of the Lt. Gov to ensure that it has adequate resources to develop and implement the database.

During the Finance Committee’s session held on July 27th, Sen. Francis Heyliger utilized a portion of her allotted time in order to inquire about the need for staffing in order to accomplish the task during its annual budget presentation.

Attorney Matthew affirmed that the LGO’s office had identified two vacant positions in order to address the project, but noted: “That's an area where we're having a challenge with filling those positions because of the need for persons with accounting background,” said Matthew. “So we're still pushing.”