TAMPA, Fla. – Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis today announced that the 2018 unclaimed property auction in Tampa earned $1.1 million for public schools in the state, drawing more than 400 attendees, including 188 bidders.

 

CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “Thank you to everyone who attended the auction, and to entire unclaimed property team who work every day to reunite Floridians with their unclaimed dollars or property. My priority is to make sure we do everything possible to return unclaimed property back to Florida residents and businesses.

 

“Since I’ve been in office, we’ve returned more than $365 million to Florida residents and businesses, breaking the previously held record set in the program’s 57-year history by more than $8 million. Florida continues to be a national leader with our proactive efforts to return unclaimed property, and we will continue working to raise the bar even higher.”

 

While entrusted in the state’s care, all unclaimed property funds are placed into the state’s school education trust fund where those dollars support public education in Florida.

 

Items in this year’s auction came from abandoned safe deposit boxes. Despite years of exhaustive efforts to locate the owners, no rightful owner or entitled heir came forward to claim the boxes or the items contained within them. All proceeds from the sale of these items can be claimed at any time and at no cost should a property owner ever come forward.

 

Visit www.fltreasurehunt.gov to check for accounts that the unclaimed property program may be holding onto for you or your business. Per Florida law, the account holder must submit a claim form in order to claim an account.