From: kytreasurer@aol.com
To: kytreasurer@aol.com
Date: 2000-12-29 10:39:00+00:00
Subject: Kentucky Treasury Newsletter

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. ? 
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