Columbus Judge Stops DeWine Administration From Using Unclaimed Funds For Browns Stadium
BY JEFF SKINNER
STATEWIDE - Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the treasury house, not a creature was stirring except one sneaky DeWine shaped mouse. But along came a judge from some random courtroom, to tell DeWine 'No! Taking Unclaimed funds will surely spell doom!'
In an unexpected move by a Franklin County Common Pleas court judge, The DeWine administration has been stopped from utilizing nearly $2 billion in unclaimed funds to pay for the construction of the Browns stadium.
In a recently released court decision, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Bill Sperlazza issued a decision preventing the state of Ohio from utilizing unclaimed funds from the public to help pay for the construction of a sports stadium in Brook Park. The move comes after grassroots debates and initiatives have been raging surrounding increased tax burdens on residents, such as the abolish property tax movements, which argue the state is frequently mismanaging revenue for pet projects like sports stadiums while neglecting its constitutional responsibilities.
The state was set to transfer between $1.7 and $1.9 billion in unclaimed money to a sports facilities fund on January 1, with $600 million earmarked for the Browns project. The state has nearly$4.8 billion in unclaimed funds from abandoned bank accounts, insurance payments, safe deposit box balances and other sources for which the state is obligated to hold for reclamation by members of the public. According to the court decision, allowing the state to pilfer from the unclaimed funds would put the state in a dangerous and untenable situation, making them legally responsible for repaying the funds to the public should they be requested upon at a later date.
"These unclaimed funds are the ownership of the claimants, not the Division,” Sperlazza said. “The irreparable harm that will occur should the funds be transferred on January 1, 2026 is significant. This creates a situation where at some point, the amount of funds in the trust with the Division [of Unclaimed Funds], may not be sufficient enough to compensate all pre-2016 claims for recoupment of unclaimed funds—leaving the State of Ohio responsible to compensate individuals for those claims."
The order holds back the tidal wave of state pilfering of citizen owned funds until at least the conclusion of ongoing litigation surrounding the event, on January 8, as an ongoing legal battle over utilizing the funds, is expected to end, though many argue the matter will be appealed no matter the result, to the Supreme Court.
Members of the public can search if they have any unclaimed funds by visiting by visiting the Ohio Department of Commerce website at https://com.ohio.gov/divisions-and-programs/unclaimed-funds
