Jennifer,

RE: Stale Dated AP checks

I will provide you with the process the City of Visalia uses in order to address stale dated checks.

If a check has not cleared within 4 months of issue date (180 day validity-2 months short of expiring) we will notify the recipient of the almost stale dated check of its expiration date and will also provide contact information should the original check was not received or has since been misplaced.

If no response, a reissue, etc., and it is after 180 days/6 months, the City will complete a journal entry to move the dollars from the expenses to a specific “stale dated” account.

Then at June and again in December we will advertise in our local newspaper the names and dollar amounts of all those recipients who were issued checks and are now 3 years of issue date. Should the recipient contact us as a result of the newspaper notice the City uses the same forms the State uses for their unclaimed monies. These forms are available on their web site. Once these are completed the City then issues another check.

Our notice follows the guidelines as stated in Government Code Section 50050 – 50057.

Here is a sample notice:

Notice Concerning Unclaimed Monies

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to Section 50050-50053 of the Government Code of the State of California that the following unclaimed monies have been in the official custody of the City of Visalia. Said monies are held in the General Fund. The persons who appear to be entitled to said monies and the respective amounts are as follows:

MAXINE HEFLEY / $ 5.60
ELIZABETH ALVARADO / $ 40.00
KELLY TIMMERMAN / $ 4.95
HOUSTON JEWELERS / $ 410.87
FAITH KNAUER / $ 55.00
SHRED IT SECURIT CO / $ 1,664.00
WESTERN MILLING / $ 40.00
DUCMIS CALDERON / $ 4.95
GABOR FALVY / $ 4.95
GENEVA WORLEY / $ 113.05

It is proposed that the aforementioned monies will become the property of the City of Visalia on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2009. Any person who is entitled to any of the unclaimed monies referred to above may file a claim therefore with the City of Visalia BEFORE said date.

Claim forms and information regarding claim filing procedures may be obtained at the City of Visalia Finance Department, 707 W. Acequia, Visalia, CA 93291 or by calling C. Junio at (559) 713-4376, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

If you file a claim and it is rejected by the City of Visalia, you may file a verified complaint with the Tulare County Superior Court in accordance with Government Code Section 50052.

Dates of Publication 8/29 AND 9/2/09

Eric Frost

Administrative Services Director

If there are stale dated checks remaining after this publication we then process yet another journal entry moving the stale dated checks from the stale dated account back to the general fund, miscellaneous revenue account.

Here is our procedure in a “Readers Digest” form.

Unclaimed Property – Checks – Procedures

Each month, G.L. Financial Analyst will provide a list of all outstanding checks to the Accounts Payable staff. A/P staff will contact payees of checks more than two months outstanding. If payee still has the check, staff will request that it be deposited. If payee cannot locate the check, staff will stop payment, void the original check, and reissue it.

Once a month the Accounting Technician will void all checks more than six months old and prepare a journal entry to move the related payables to the General Fund.

Void Check batch entry:

FFFF-101101 100.00

FFFF-5XXXXX-DDDDD (100.00)

Journal Entry:

FFFF-5XXXXX-DDDDD 100.00

FFFF-101101 (100.00)

0011-101101 100.00

0011-211113 (100.00)

At December 31st and June 30th of each year, the G.L. Accounting Technician will review the 0011-211113 account and prepare a list of outstanding checks more than 3 years old. This list will be published in the legal notices of the Visalia Times-Delta once a week for two successive weeks. All amounts remaining unclaimed 60 days after the second date of publishing will the property of the City of Visalia General Fund. (Per California Code of Civil Procedure, Chapter 7, Title 10, Part 3, Section 1500, et seq. and Government Code Section 50050-52.) The G.L. Accounting Technician will prepare the following journal entry.

Journal Entry:

0011-211113 100.00

0011-481620 (100.00)

I hope this information is helpful.

Cecelia Junio

Accounting Technician

City of Visalia

Finance Division

559 713-4376