Controller Van Blunk returns more than half million $ from old tax collector’s account to Middletown taxing authorities
Pamela Van Blunk, Bucks County Controller, is pleased to announce that this week the Controller’s Office wil be returning over $556,000 in unclaimed funds to Neshaminy School District, Middletown Township and Bucks County. The funds were in a decades-old bank account held in trust by a former Middletown Twp. tax collector for the purpose of collecting taxes on behalf of the three taxing districts. Neshaminy School District will receive a whopping $451,785, while Middletown Township will receive $33,913 and Bucks County will receive $71,167.
Over a year ago, current Middletown Twp Tax Collector Ray Chapman received a letter from Citizens Bank advising that more than $500,000 sitting in a bank account held in trust by a former Middletown Twp. tax collector will be escheated to the State if action was not taken. Chapman properly turned the letter over to Controller Van Blunk who immediately contacted Citizens Bank and initiated an investigation to determine the rightful owners of the funds. The funds did not belong to the former tax collector, rather, the funds were held in trust as a tax collector for Neshaminy School District, Middletown Twp. and Bucks County.
Van Blunk and her team of auditors led by Michael Kozar, CPA, set out to obtain as much information about the twenty-year-old bank account that they could. Kozar learned that the bank was withdrawing monthly fees and the former tax collector increasingly receded from our investigation. Therefore, Van Blunk filed an action in replevin for judgment against the former tax collector for the contents of the tax account and to obtain material and necessary information in order to determine the rightful owners) of the funds. Neshaminy School District intervened as an interested party. Ultimately, the funds were dispersed to the Controller’s unclaimed funds pending the Controller’s investigation.
Although some bank records and tax receipts were obtained, there were too many missing records for the Controller’s Office to be able determine the exact origins, or the rightful owners), of the tax funds in the account. Consequently, Neshaminy School District, Controller Van Blunk and the former tax collector sought and received the Court’s approval to permit the Controller to equitably disperse the funds to the three taxing districts pro rata based on the millage rate imposed by the respective taxing districts as of tax year 2005 (the last year of the former tax collector’s elected term). On October 20, 2025, the Honorable Jordan B. Yeager ordered that the funds be equitably dispersed to the three taxing districts in which the former tax collector was entrusted to collect taxes twenty years ago.
“My entire team, including Deputy Controller Kim Doran and Michael Kozar, deserve special thanks for all their hard work. We pursued every avenue we could possibly think of. Michael diligently examined every bank statement and tax receipt that we were able to obtain. Unfortunately, too many bank statements and tax receipts were lost over time leaving us at an impasse,” Van Blunk stated. She added that she and her team “are pleased that the matter is finally resolved and the funds will be dispersed equitably.” Van Blunk also expressed her gratitude to current Middletown Twp. Tax Collector Ray Chapman saying, “because of Ray’s prudence, the tax funds were not lost to the state but instead will benefit all taxpayers living in Middletown Twp., where they were collected so many years ago.”
Since the Unclaimed Funds Program’s inception just three years ago, Van Blunk has now returned over $1,575,000 to the rightful owners and there is more than $1.5 million in unclaimed funds to be returned. To see if you have any unclaimed to, visit the website at https://buckscounty.gov/UnclaimedFunds and click on the “Unclaimed Funds Listing” link to search the list.
For more information about the Controller’s Office’s Unclaimed Funds program, please contact: Bucks Controller’s Office: 215-348-6435.
