ATHOL – Around 270 people or businesses have checks waiting for them at Athol Town Hall.

Treasurer/Collector Patrick McIntyre contacted the Athol Daily News on Wednesday to announce the town has some $67,000 worth of what are known as “tailings” – uncashed checks – waiting to be reconciled. The amount of the payments, he said, range from $1.31 for a resident to more than $12,000 for a business.

“At the last Town Meeting, the town voted to accept the state law that allows us to clear tailings accounts,” McIntyre explained. “These are checks that have been cut over the years that people have not cashed; either they didn’t get them, or they misplaced them….so we want to get that money back to them. If they don’t put a claim in, those funds get returned to the town.”

Some of the checks, said McIntyre, date back to 2014.

Asked if most of the payments were generated by a specific department, McIntyre said, “No. It’s all over the board. A lot of them are motor vehicle excise or real estate refunds. There are people who canceled their plates and got an abatement, and we send them back a rebate for their excise and they never got it, or they just didn’t know what it was for and stuck it in a drawer somewhere. And some of them are to vendors that, for some reason, just never cashed the checks. So, we’re giving folks a second chance to cash their checks.”

McIntyre said the town will post the list of checks on its website at the beginning of May, where it will stay for 60 days. After that, the town will advertise the remaining unclaimed checks, providing another 60-day window to be claimed.

Checks for more than $100 have to remain claimable for a year, and any under $100 can be returned to the town as unclaimed, according to McIntyre. Funds returned to the town will be deposited in Athol’s free cash account, according to McIntyre.

“If Joe Smith says, ‘Hey, that’s me – that’s my money,’ he can file a claim with us,” he said. “They give us two forms of ID, then we send them a replacement check.”

The treasurer/collector said the website will include a claim form that can be printed. The application will need to be submitted in person at Town Hall.

“There will be a whole list of checks and then the claim form that they can print out, and they’ll fill in their name, their address, what check they’re trying to reclaim and the amount,” McIntyre said. “Then they’ll come in with two forms of ID. Obviously, one will be a driver’s license or passport, something that has a picture ID, and the other could be a utility bill, a credit or debit card that has their name on it.

“If the checks are for people who are deceased, the executor will have to bring in some sort of a document that proves that, you know, ‘Mary Jones was my mom. I’m the executor of my mom’s will. Here’s my proof of executorship.’ Then they can file the claim.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.