SMETHPORT — Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity and McKean County Commissioners announced that nearly $17,000 in unclaimed property has been returned to McKean County.

“I was excited to work with McKean County to return these funds,” Garrity said. “Since taking office, I’ve visited Bradford, Smethport and Eldred, and I know that the residents of McKean County work hard and want to know that every taxpayer dollar is being used wisely. I will continue working with local officials across our great state to return unclaimed property, and I encourage everyone to check our website to see if they, their family, their business or organization has money waiting to be claimed.”

Commissioner Tom Kreiner said, “I commend Treasurer Garrity and McKean County Treasurer Melissa Jo Smith, who worked together to get these funds returned to McKean County. Every dollar will be put to good use for the taxpayers of our county.”

The $16,756.12 returned to McKean County included 20 individual properties ranging in value from $1 to $9,367.12. The oldest property dates back to 1999, while the most recent is from 2017. Properties returned include accounts payable checks, cashier’s checks, claims payment checks, credit balances, and other forms of unclaimed property.

Garrity has returned more than $14.8 million to 53 local governments, including counties and municipalities, since taking office.

Treasury is working to return more than $4 billion in unclaimed property to its rightful owners. About one in ten Pennsylvanians is owed unclaimed property, and the average claim is worth nearly $1,600.

Unclaimed property can include dormant bank accounts, claims payments, accounts payable, uncashed checks, insurance policies, contents of forgotten safe deposit boxes and more. State law requires businesses to report unclaimed property to Treasury after three years of dormancy.

To search Treasury’s database or to learn more about unclaimed property, visit patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property.