Vermont State Treasurer Michael Pieciak speaks during a press conference marking Earth Day at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger In his three years as state treasurer, one of Mike Pieciak’s proudest moments started with a list of names an d allegations of a scam.  He’d planned to attend the Putney Town Meeting two years ago, and part of his usual routine for visiting anywhere in Vermont was bringing along a printed copy of the state’s unclaimed property database for that community. But one line jumped out at him: A man with $38,000 waiting for him in the state account.  Not wanting to wait on chance, he used some family connections to find the man and gave his daughter a call.  “There was a period of time where they didn’t believe me,” Pieciak said. “Part of our challenge is that people have gotten really good at spotting scams,” since some common scams involve offering money over the phone.  But he eventually convinced the man and his daughter of the truth. They realized it was a life insurance policy that the older man hadn’t known he was the beneficiary of, Pieciak said.  The daughter sent Pieciak a thank-you note, saying, “ ‘We didn’t know about this money. We would never have looked for it,’ ” and getting the money meant her elderly dad could live in his house for another year, Pieciak said.  Few Vermonters have that much money waiting in a state account for them to collect. But the Vermont Unclaimed Property Division is holding onto $175 million in funds that belong to Vermonters, according to treasury spokesperson David Kunin. And in many cases, all they need to do is fill out a form to claim it.  Pieciak is running for his third term in the November general election against Republican Lynn LaFleur and Progressive Zachary Hample. Pieciak sees the work of the division as a form of consumer protection. If a person or organization can’t be reached to get some money they’re owed — a last paycheck, a security deposit, a refunded bill — the payer can’t just take back the money. Instead, it must go to the state of Vermont in the hope its intended recipient will come collect it.  “In the event a business closes, or the event that a business isn’t keeping its books very accurately, and that money disappears — that’s what we’re trying to avoid,” Pieciak said. “We’re trying to make sure that that money is protected, and then eventually it’s returned to Vermonters.” Vermonters can see if they’re entitled to money on the Vermont-specific database on the treasurer’s website, or look across many states with missingmoney.com, the official website of the National Association of State Treasurers.  In recent years, the number of Vermonters claiming their unclaimed property has been on the rise. It hit its peak in fiscal year 2025, when the treasury paid out to roughly 31,600 claimants.   Pieciak said the division has done some outreach through TV and digital ads in the past two years that seems to be making a difference. “When you see that out and about, you see the claims going up,” he said.  The division has also ramped up an automatic payment program called Money Back, where the state uses addresses from tax returns, “so we’re able to send them a letter that says, ‘we have $450 from the treasurer’s office, we will be sending a check to you in the next two weeks,’ and then we automatically send them the check,” Pieciak said.  The program grew from 350 recipients in its pilot stage three years ago, to about 5,000 checks sent in the next year, then 1,000 the year after that, he said.  The state receives unclaimed property every year around May 1, so Pieciak said he recommends that Vermonters check it regularly, although the funds are held by the state in perpetuity — there’s no time limit to when you can claim funds.  The unclaimed property funds include both individual Vermonters and organizations, like businesses and nonprofits. When Pieciak hosts events with businesses and invites the local newspaper to come, it’s not unusual for him to tell them, “‘Hey, you also have unclaimed property,’” he said. As part of the reporting on this story it was discovered that VTDigger appeared on the unclaimed property list for an amount less than $100. “Anyone that receives a lot of checks or writes a lot of checks — that’s almost every business — eventually, you’re going to have something that falls through the cracks,” he said. Read the story on VTDigger here: More Vermonters are getting back their unclaimed property. Here’s how to find out if you have money waiting.. ...read more read less