Editorial: Following the money

Monday, Dec. 11, 2006 | 7:32 a.m.

The state of Nevada holds $203.9 million in unclaimed property that state officials seem bent on using for pet projects rather than diligently searching for the rightful owners.

According to a recent story by the Las Vegas Sun, revenue from unclaimed estates, forgotten paychecks, closed bank accounts and other sources have increased annually. But the state treasurer's office has not added staff to deal with the increase and actually has made it more complicated for potential claimants to search for their money online.

The state's unclaimed property Web site is riddled with flaws that, as one expert told Sun reporter Michael Mishak, effectively hides about 40 percent of the money being held by the state. In a procedure that seems like more of a wall than a search process, the database often uses codes identifying the type of property, rather than listing the owner's name. And there is no explanation for the codes on the site. The site also limits searches to only 25 results.

Brian Krolicki, state treasurer and, as of last month, lieutenant governor-elect, has advocated using the unclaimed money to help subsidize Millennium Scholarships, which are offered to Nevada high school students who maintain a B grade-point average.

In 2005 Krolicki persuaded the Nevada Legislature and Gov. Kenny Guinn to pass legislation that annually funnels $7.6 million from unclaimed property into the scholarship program. And in an October meeting with the Sun's editorial board, Krolicki said one of his goals as lieutenant governor would be to divert even more of the unclaimed property money in order to support the Nevada Research Alliance, which works to attract research projects to Nevada's universities.

We are glad that Nevada Treasurer-elect Kate Marshall has promised to see that the Web site is redesigned and has vowed to bird-dog the unclaimed property division to make sure that it does all that is possible to find people to whom the money is owed.

Allowing an understaffed agency and poorly configured Web site to hide the money from those who rightfully own it is just plain wrong. Those who told the Sun that they are aware of the problems should work harder and faster to fix them. And Krolicki needs to learn to understand that this money isn't his to spend at will.