The day the news broke of Ohio's Republican lawmakers' proposal to use unclaimed funds to help pay for a new Browns stadium, there was a spike in people accessing the site.
According to data from the Ohio Department of Commerce, 13,181 people visited unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov on June 3. We reached out for information from a specific range of dates to gain a better understanding of how the announcement impacted inquiries.
Here is the number of people who visited the website from May 25 to June 4.
Unclaimed funds include money the state is holding for current or former Ohioans from sources such as forgotten bank accounts, utility deposits, or uncashed checks.
When you look at the number of people who filed claims for money found on the website, there's an even bigger jump.
On Monday, June 2, 1,448 claims were submitted to the Ohio Department of Commerce. On the day of that afternoon announcement, the number of submitted claims jumped to 8,057. And the day after the lawmaker's plan was released, 15,777 claims were submitted to recover unclaimed money.
| Date | Submitted Claims |
| Sunday, June 1 | 1,061 |
| Monday, June 2 | 1,448 |
| Tuesday, June 3 (Day of Announcement) | 8,057 |
| Wednesday, June 4 | 15,777 |
“For context, this is consistent with activity we often see when we distribute a news release highlighting unclaimed funds or run digital advertising,” said Ohio Department of Commerce Public Information Officer Franklin Freytag.
News 5 checked on that comparison and found that, while examining Google Trends, the number of people searching for "unclaimed funds" in Ohio surged following the Republican lawmakers' announcement, surpassing any bump seen so far this year.
According to Google Trends, "Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term."
Following Tuesday's announcement, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne urged Gov. Mike DeWine to line-item veto the use of unclaimed funds for the stadium, saying the Senate is "picking your pocket," in a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
RELATED: WATCH: County Executive Chris Ronayne criticizes Senate funding plan for Browns
Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland), who has been supportive of the Browns' move, said the $600 million grant would be in the form of cash grants over the next 16 years.
The Senate's budget proposal still includes $600 million for a new Cleveland Browns stadium in Brook Park. However, the funding structure differs from what the Browns proposed and what the House approved earlier this year. The House proposed borrowing $600 million by issuing bonds and repaying the debt, with interest, over 25 years, at a cost of about $1 billion.
The Senate believes the state will more than recoup that investment through sales tax, income tax and commercial activity tax revenues from the 176-acre Brook Park stadium district.
