BROOKLYN, Ohio — Until last summer, Linda Pietrasz had no clue that Ohio was holding money with her name on it – a life-insurance check that’s been sitting for 35 years, since her husband died.
She found out about the cash after state lawmakers decided to tap unclaimed funds to help pay for pro-sports facilities, starting with a new suburban stadium for the Cleveland Browns. And she’s feeling more urgency as other sports franchises turn to the same well.
Ohio’s budget office solicited grant applications from teams in January, despite an ongoing legal fight over the state’s move to grab unclaimed funds – money the state’s been holding on behalf of individuals, businesses, nonprofits and even public entities.
This week, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Guardians confirmed that they both applied for state grants, with hopes of landing money for repairs at Rocket Arena and Progressive Field. The Cavs are seeking $40 million toward $161 million worth of work. The Guardians want $65 million toward $259 million in projects.
Pietrasz has strong feelings about all of that.
“I think it’s terrible,” she said Friday afternoon. “It’s not their money.”
At 72, she doesn’t have a computer, Internet access or a car. She called News 5 for help submitting documents online to support her claim for that old insurance payout.
“The process, to me, is too complicated,” she said, running through a checklist of documents that the Ohio Division of Unclaimed Funds requires.
“I found out the stuff that I had to get, and it was basically everything,” she said.
Pietrasz didn’t know that her husband, who was only 40 when he died in 1991, had a life insurance policy. She found out in July, when her son searched the state’s unclaimed-funds database and discovered the misplaced money.
She managed to file an initial claim but couldn’t scan and upload any supporting documents. Pietrasz doesn’t have a way to make copies. And she didn’t want to send the original documents to the state by mail, and risk losing them.
“I’ve got my marriage certificate, his autopsy report, date of death,” she said.
Here's the backstory
Records show Ohio has been holding the money since 2011, when John Hancock Life Insurance Company turned it over to the state. It’s part of a roughly $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion bucket of unclaimed funds the state’s been sitting on for a decade or longer.
The General Assembly directed state officials to pull that long-held money out of the unclaimed funds trust and convert it to state property, starting Jan. 1. Lawmakers earmarked $1 billion for grants for sports and cultural facilities, with the first $600 million going to the new $2.4 billion Browns stadium in Brook Park.
RELATED: Ohio lawmakers settle on unclaimed funds to put $600 million in new Browns stadium
And for the first time, lawmakers set a clock on how long people are allowed to file claims. Going forward, the money will become Ohio’s property 10 years after the state accepts the unclaimed funds from the original holders, including banks, insurers and utility companies.
The General Assembly created a grace period to give people whose funds get taken another chance to file claims. That reimbursement window runs through Jan. 1, 2036.
Ohioans with unclaimed funds sued last year. They argue the state’s new approach is an unconstitutional taking of private property. Lawyers for the state, meanwhile, say Ohio is on firm legal ground – and that owners have had ample time to claim their money.
RELATED: Initial lawsuit filed over state's plan to take unclaimed funds to help build a new Browns stadium
In December, a Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge temporarily blocked the state from taking that first tranche of misplaced money. That temporary restraining order is still in place. The court is considering whether to impose a longer-term hold while the legal battle plays out. A decision on a preliminary injunction is expected soon.
RELATED: Court extends pause on Ohio's plan to tap unclaimed funds for new Browns stadium
Other teams follow the playbook
Meanwhile, though, other pro sports teams are taking advantage of the opportunity state lawmakers created. The new Ohio Sports Facility Grant Program offers “performance grants” of up to 25% of a project’s expected cost – with a maximum award of $250 million.
To get a grant, applicants have to show their projects will yield higher tax revenues for the state, meeting or exceeding the value of the grant over an unspecified time period.
News 5 requested the full list of applicants from the state budget office this week but has not received that information yet.
Applicants must be pro sports franchises that own or run facilities located on sites owned by the state, another government entity, a nonprofit group or a special financing and governing body called a new community authority.
The Browns expect the new Huntington Bank Field in Brook Park to be owned by a new community authority that hasn’t been created yet.
The landlord at both Rocket Arena and Progressive Field is the Gateway Economic Development Corporation of Greater Cleveland, a nonprofit with a board that’s appointed by Cleveland and Cuyahoga County elected leaders. The Cavaliers have a lease that runs through 2034. The Guardians’ lease ends in 2036.
Those leases require the teams to pay for maintenance and the landlord to pay for most of the capital repairs – projects to extend the life and usefulness of the buildings.
'The funding deficiency'
In written statements, the Cavs and Guardians said that’s exactly what they’re trying to do, in partnership with Gateway.
“Rocket Arena is integral to the vitality and vibrancy of our city and community,” a representative for the Cavs and venue operator Rock Entertainment Group wrote. “The preservation and continued modernization of our thirty-year-old venue are essential to sustaining and growing premier sports and entertainment in downtown Cleveland.”
The planned projects include work to get the arena ready to host Cleveland’s new WNBA team in 2028. A list of anticipated spending provided to Gateway’s board includes everything from exterior work to investments in heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical systems and security – along with nearly $67 million in technology upgrades.
The to-do list is similar at Progressive Field.
In their emailed statement, the Guardians said the state funding would help pay for a preservation plan based on a facility-condition assessment completed late last year.
The plan “provides a strategic roadmap for those projects necessary to preserve and modernize Progressive Field – Ohio’s oldest major professional sports facility – for the remaining 11 years of the approved lease,” a Guardians spokesman wrote in an email.
The teams declined to comment beyond those written statements.
Gateway provided a support letter for the teams’ state grant applications.
Right now, the dedicated funding source for repairs at the arena, the ballpark – and the existing Browns stadium in Cleveland – is Cuyahoga County’s so-called “sin tax.” That’s an excise tax on cigarettes and alcohol. But the tax, established in 1990, hasn’t increased with inflation. It still ranges from a few pennies to a few dollars, depending on the product.
The tax revenues aren’t anywhere near enough to cover major repair needs at the arena, the ballpark and the stadium. And that’s putting pressure on the city and the county – and taxpayers – to come up with the extra cash.
“We are just trying to work as cooperatively as possible with our public partners and the teams to find solutions to the funding deficiency,” Scott Simpkins, Gateway’s attorney, said during a phone conversation this week.
It’s unclear when the state will start awarding its new grants for pro sports facilities.
Pietrasz wishes Ohio would find another way – a different funding source.
“I don’t want the Browns stealing my money,” she said, laughing. “I don’t want the Browns taking money. It doesn’t seem … logical. It has nothing to do with unclaimed funds. It’s the people’s money.”
And she believes the path to claiming your funds should be much simpler.
“Thirty-five years, my husband’s been dead,” she said. “Why do I need to go through every little thing? … I think they give you way too much stuff to process. And I think they do it intentionally, so you cannot turn it in. That’s my feeling.”
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
