TOLEDO, Ohio — Nearly two months after an 11 Investigates report exposed issues with Toledo’s fire escrow account, multiple residents should soon be receiving checks in the mail.
On Tuesday afternoon, Toledo City Council reviewed legislation that will be voted on next Tuesday. The legislation would allow nearly $37,000 to be transferred out of the demolition fund back into the fire escrow account so that seven residents can receive refunds.
In November, council transferred nearly $306,000 out of the fire escrow account into the demolition fund after 64 accounts were determined to be abandoned. But, 11 Investigates began reviewing the list and found several Toledoans, including Mary Terrell. Her central Toledo home was damaged in a 2007 fire and she had more than $11,000 sitting in the fire escrow account, waiting to be claimed. She was not aware it was in the account.
After WTOL 11 told her how to claim that money, she was initially denied. But after WTOL sat down with Dennis Kennedy, the city’s director of urban beautification, he determined that she was due a refund. Her money is included in the $37,000 that council will be voting on next week.
Kennedy said it was necessary to go back to council to get Terrell her money.
“We’re going to correct the record from last year by asking for the authority to expend it this year and we’ll refund those seven accounts,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy has a team of a dozen employees who work on finding residents on the escrow list. After the 11 Investigates report, he asked them to go back and try to find additional people. Those searches found six additional people besides Terrell who will be getting refunds.
11 Investigates has found several people additional people on the list. Since our report aired, more than $500,000 has either been refunded or is marked to be refunded. Several people who we found or who contacted us said they were not even aware they had money in the escrow account.
After a fire, an insurance company will deposit $2,000 for every $15,000 into the escrow account for an insured resident. Once repairs or demolition take place on the property, the resident can apply to have the funds released. In some cases, the withheld funds total as much as $20,000 to $30,000. After five years, the city is legally allowed to consider that money abandoned and transfer it to a different fund, which is what happened in November. Several of those accounts stretched back to the 1990s.
A letter is sent to the homeowner once an insurance company deposits money in the account. In June, the city also posted eligible homeowners in The Blade for four weeks.
As of the most recent report on the city of Toledo’s site, the account holds $1,674,391.90. That total has gone down significantly since our report.
“I wish the account was at zero,” Kennedy said. “It’s not about a money grab. We want to get back to people what they deserve. But sometimes there is hesitancy by people to answer the door when we come out there.”
Kennedy said his department will now send people two, three or even four times to residents' homes. He received several hard questions from members of council during Tuesday’s council review, particularly from council members Theresa Gadus and Cerssandra McPherson. Gadus asked how many people his team has found and if they go knock on doors to get the money returned. McPherson said many people don’t understand how to apply for the money.
“I requested to Mr. Kennedy and his department that they give the information about how to claim that money to members of council, so when we go into the neighborhoods to talk to residents or meetings, that we have that information,” McPherson said. “We are out in our communities all the time. We need to be able to share that information.”
Residents who have had a fire and believe they have money in the account should contact Engage Toledo at 419-936-2020 so that a representative can walk you through the process. Lead investigator Brian Dugger can be reached at 419-248-4422.