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The Nicholasville Rotary Club’s Monday, Sept. 30 speaker was Kentucky’s 42nd State Treasurer, Mark Metcalf.

Metcalf is a Lancaster, Garrard County native and graduated from the University of Kentucky. He served in the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel and was an immigration judge in Miami, Florida.

“It’s an honor to be here. I say this everywhere I go but it’s true– there’s no place I’d rather be right now than here with you,” Metcalf said.

According to Treasury.ky.gov, an election is held for the position every four years and each individual is limited to two consecutive terms. The Treasurer sits on several different boards as part of Kentucky’s support for its economic, financial and “cultural prosperity,” including boards such as the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System, the Lottery Board, Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, and the State Investment Commission. The state website continues, explaining the Treasurer as the state’s elected Chief Financial Officer and watchdog, ensuring that “all state dollars are spent statutorily and constitutionally.” 

To start, the Kentucky State Treasury performs the following functions: Records, verifies and pays all federal, state and local withholding taxes for employees of the Commonwealth, Implements court ordered attachments against the salaries of state employees or monies owed to state vendors, makes timely deposit of incoming revenues from state agencies, records, monitors and reconciles all transactions in the state’s depository and checking accounts, authorizes bonds and performs critical functions that ensure compliance with the Federal Cash Management Act of 1990.

According to Metcalf, his department is also in charge of lost property, and getting it back to the rightful owners. Unclaimed property usually consists of payroll checks, unclaimed safety deposit boxes, old life insurance policies, or vendor checks that have remained unclaimed by their owner after several years. After a period of time, usually 3 years, banks and other financial institutions turn over unclaimed property to the Kentucky State Treasury. 

The Unclaimed Property Fund contains over half a billion dollars in assets. According to Metcalf, the state is holding 4.274 Million Dollars that belong to Jessamine Countians. To see if you have any unclaimed property in this fund, head to https://kyclaims.unclaimedproperty.com/en/Property/SearchIndex, and type in your first and last name, and the city you reside in. 

Metcalf is also responsible for ensuring the state’s investments get the best possible results, and he also ensures money that the state has– including unclaimed property is invested so that the “money is not idled,” and the “commonwealth gets the benefits of any interest earned,” Metcalf said. Stocks are typically purchased by Kentucky from companies like IBM, Apple, and other long-lasting private corporations. 

The State Treasurer is also the chair of the state’s investment commission, but he does not make any decisions regarding what the commission invests in, “I supervise those who do the investing,” he said. “Last year, on roughly nine billion dollars, Kentucky made 680 million dollars in interest. What does that mean? That means we got 680 million dollars back in Kentucky’s accounts that will not have to be raised through taxes or through forfeitures. I call that good management of monies that otherwise might not be well invested or taken good care of,” Metcalf said.

This commission meets quarterly, and since it has already met on September 10, 2024, it will meet again in the late fall/early winter. These meetings are public and agendas and minutes can be viewed here: https://finance.ky.gov/office-of-the-controller/office-of-financial-management/Pages/state-investment-commission-meetings.aspx

Towards the middle, Metcalf used his time speaking to highlight “son of Jessamine County,” Rob Gullette, who is also the city attorney for the city of Wilmore. He is currently working with that state’s treasury and is one of its division directors and he also works as a deputy general counsel for the department. 

“He has done excellent work for the people in Kentucky at the treasury. We’re very blessed to have Rob working for us.” Metcalf said. 

In addition to fulfilling its capacity and durability to transact business on behalf of every taxing district, and every city and county government, Metcalf said the state treasury also has programs to “dignify the student,” like its commission on financial literacy. 

“It will come as no surprise to you that many of the kids who finish high school don’t know how to open a bank account, they don’t know they’re supposed to pay taxes,” Metcalf said. “…Through our commission, we go into as many school systems that we can reach and we’ve gone into jails, so that when an inmate is released they have some basic idea that when they return to their community, there will be an opportunity to apply the lessons that we’re teaching not only in our classrooms, but in our jails.”

The program also offers educational information on savings accounts, credit, and other financial essentials. 

Metcalf’s office is located at 1050 US Highway 127 South, Suite 100 Frankfort, Kentucky 40601. His office’s number is (502) 564-4722, and his email is treasury.web@ky.gov.