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Jonathan Miller
Kentucky State Treasurer December 2000 Dear Friends, ? ? Amidst all the holiday hoopla, I want to take a moment to sincerely thank you for helping make my first year in office a productive and joyous one. ?Your interest and support have been critical to our success in making Treasury an office of which we can be justly proud. Consider some of the developments we have seen over the past year: ? Prepaid Tuition: The office has been surging with added activity following the unanimous passage in the 2000 legislative session of our prepaid tuition bill -- the one that the Courier-Journal noted "may be remembered as the most lasting achievement of the session's education panels." ?Since then, we have named the program KAPT, Kentucky's Affordable Prepaid Tuition Plan, (Catchy Slogan: Keep College Costs Capped!) and convened our 12-member board to oversee its administration. We are on track for a Fall 2001 launch and expect KAPT to be extremely popular among Kentucky families who are looking for affordable ways to send their kids to college. ? Unclaimed Property: That moving and shaking you hear is a direct result of Unclaimed Property's entry into the Digital Age. ?Less than three months ago, claims were processed manually -- a cumbersome task, to say the least. ?But that was then. ?Now that Unclaimed Property has interfaced with ?the state's centralized accounting system, efficiency has soared. ?No fuzzy math here. ?We have paid 7,036 claims from January 1 through November 30th -- more than double the year before. ?And with the addition of a search function on our web site which allows claimants to look for property online, we were able to give back over 3 million dollars to rightful owners. ?This marks the best year in the history of the Unclaimed Property Program. ? Accounting: When I first started in my position last January, the state's accounting system found Treasury behind in bank reconciliation -- balancing the state's accounting transactions with its depository transactions. ?Within three weeks, we forged an alliance with the Finance Cabinet to solve the problem. ?Less than one year later, we can claim complete success. ?It's official: All of Treasury's bank accounts have been reconciled. ?? ? Systems: Treasury has given the phrase "the check's in the mail" new meaning. ?The year 2000 saw our savvy tech staff usher in a new era with the adoption of state-of-the-art, check-sealing equipment. ?This means that checks are processed and transmitted to taxpayers more efficiently. ?It also means that the age of smoke and fire alarms in the Capitol Annex due to faulty equipment is finally over! ? Public Outreach: Treasury has made great strides to improve communication with the public. ?We continue to develop Treasury's new and improved web site, with a special emphasis on making www.kytreasury.com more user-friendly and on building our in-house capacity to keep it online and up-to-date. ?This is important to ensure that all taxpayers have access to Treasury's unclaimed property database and information regarding the pre-paid tuition plan. ? Philanthropy: ?This year, Treasury raised the bar on philanthropy. ?Our office was 269% over the 1999 participation rate for the Kentucky Employees' Charitable Campaign. ?Our spirited employees gave to the fund in more ways than one. Exhibit A is Treasury's fundraising softball team. ?Word is that out on the field, we made the Department of Agriculture actually look like a farm team. ?For its outstanding efforts, Treasury was recognized by KECC and given awards for Most Valuable Player and Best Overall Campaign. These are just a few of the highlights that I can recall from the last year; It is, of course, next to impossible to capture them all in a newsletter. ?But that said, I want to thank you again for giving me this opportunity to serve Kentucky. ?It is because of you that I can eagerly anticipate my second year as State Treasurer. ?And it is large part because of you that I am so thoroughly grateful this holiday season. Best wishes to you and your family. Jonathan Miller State Treasurer ? The treasury newsletter is available in a more graphic format. ?To see for yourself, visit our web site at www.kytreasury.com. ? ? We apologize if you received this in error. ?If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, please reply with your name and write "unsubscribe" in the subject heading.
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