HARTVILLE, Ohio — Fundraising has become a routine part of the job at most fire departments.
In Hartville, they are constantly looking at ways to upgrade aging equipment without asking for more taxpayer money.
"Just like every place, there’s not enough money," Chief Mike Lorentz said. "All the equipment we’ve used has doubled or tripled in cost."
So it's become a bit frustrating for the department: seeing several unclaimed funds addressed to the Hartville Fire Department listed in the state's unclaimed funds database, which they have been unsuccessfully able to claim.
Several years ago, the department made an effort to try to claim that money, which amounts to about $322, but was unsuccessful after dealing with layers and layers of verification.
While only a couple hundred dollars from a phone company and life insurance companies, Chief Lorentz told News 5 it feels like a donation they can't receive.
"Every donation made to the fire department is cherished - All of those add up together," he said. "It’s just very difficult to get that money. We filed [in 2017] and I’m not sure how it went but we had to get an attorney involved and the attorney said it would cost more in attorney fees than what we’re going to get. So we just left it. It’s frustrating cause you can see it sitting there."
For Assistant Chief Jim Monath, he's not surprised. He has been trying to claim about $100 tied to his personal business for years.
He told News 5 it's been much harder to recover that money compared to the funds from his father's estate in Pennsylvania's unclaimed funds that he received a couple of years ago.
"I think the Ohio unclaimed fund system needs some attention," he said. "It’s not easy to get money out of it."
Right now, Ohio's Division of Unclaimed Funds oversees about $4.9 billion, made up of forgotten bank accounts, utility deposits, uncashed checks and more.
Part of the headache, the department argues, is that while there may be multiple people with the same name who have unclaimed funds, there's only one Hartville Fire Department. And it's been in the same building at the same address since 1956.
So verifying their identity, they say, should be as easy as it gets.
"Hartville fire department is not hard to locate," Monath said. "We’ve been here for many years, big station, big sign, everyone knows where we’re at."
They argue that Ohio should be able to automatically disperse unclaimed funds to entities that are easily identifiable, such as police departments and fire departments and local governments.
Yes - municipalities, nonprofits, companies and prominent agencies have unclaimed funds
And it’s not just the Hartville fire department with missing money.
News 5 searched the state’s database and found police departments, municipalities, counties, and plenty of other fire departments with unclaimed funds.
In Augusta Township, located in Carroll County, with a population of about 1,500, their chief provided News 5 with their claim for $19,990.31, with the majority tied to a matured certificate of deposit.
Chief Charles Wright told News 5 the layers of verification have made it difficult for them to claim the money, which could go a long way toward equipment upgrades.
News 5 took those frustrations to Columbus and the Superintendent of Unclaimed Funds to ask: Why is it so hard?
"We always want to make sure we’re paying the right person," Superintendent Akil Hardy said.
Unfortunately, right now, Ohio law states his department can’t just automatically issue checks to people or places that seem obvious. There needs to be a claim filed and all the paperwork done.
"Because of our laws, we’re not at the point where we can just send them a check," Supt. Hardy said. "But I could see a way in which we could partner with them."
However, in other states, that’s already happening.
Right now, at least 20 states are already or are set to begin automatically paying out funds in some capacity, even without filing a claim.
In some cases, the automatic dispersals are below a certain amount, easily identifiable, or done in batches throughout the year.
In California, they are already proactively issuing checks for municipalities and state agencies.
In the meantime, the Hartville Fire Department is still looking for ways to raise money without raising taxes. Which means they're not giving up on their unclaimed funds.
"If you have money in unclaimed funds, fight for it," Assistant Chief Monath said. "It’s kind of sad in Ohio we can’t get it out of there."
To see if you or anyone you know has unclaimed funds, head to Unclaimedfunds.Ohio.Gov.
News 5's Michelle Jarboe contributed to this report.
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard, on Facebook Clay LePard News 5 or email him at Clay.LePard@WEWS.com.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
