It is an honor to serve as your State Treasurer. I was sworn into my new office on Monday, January 13 and since that time my schedule has been extremely hectic as I attend to your financial needs. My first priority when I walked in the door to my office was to put on my auditors' hat and look for ways that we can streamline the office and make it more proactive. I feel that this is especially important given our state's current fiscal crisis and so far we have been successful. In addition to looking for ways to make this office more customer friendly for you, we are frequently called to the statehouse to work with your local elected officials on a variety of issues.

"I believe that the Treasurer's Office should be a useful tool for all Kansans and I pledge to bring value-added services to you, without the large price tag. I promise that we will be doing more with less in my administration and I look forward to overcoming these challenges.

One of the ways I want to make this office more proactive is by providing monthly columns like this one and I appreciate this paper for printing it. The goal of my columns are to provide useful information that will allow you to navigate the often times complex world of finance. Additionally, it will allow me to showcase some of the many goods and services that we offer.

As I travel across the state I am frequently asked, "What does the Treasurer's office do?" Well, the answer is simple…A LOT! The State Treasurer's office is broken down into five divisions: Administration, Unclaimed Property, Learning Quest, Municipal Bond Services and Cash Management. In addition to these divisions, I serve on the KPERS and Pooled Money Investment Boards.

Administration Division. Administration is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the office. This division is also responsible for administering the low-interest agriculture loan program. Working with the legislature, we were able to set aside over $55 million in low-interest loans for Kansas farmers who qualify. The response to this program has been overwhelming. As a farm kid myself, I know how important it is to help our farmers in any way that we can and this program is one step in that direction.

Unclaimed Property Division. The Unclaimed Property division is tasked with collecting and returning all abandoned property and getting it back to its rightful owners or their heirs. Last year alone, we gave back over $8 million worth of your money. To put this into perspective, if you were to stack $8 million individual dollar bills, it would stretch to be over 4 miles high. I encourage you to check and see if you have any money that is owed to you. You can call us at 1-800-432-0386 or visit us on the web at http://www.kansasstatetreasurer.com. The best part, its FREE!

Learning QUEST. Learning QUEST is the state's 529 postsecondary education savings plan. This program has been in existence for only a few years and in that time we have set up accounts for over 50,000 children and have over $350 million in assets. It is easy to establish an account for your child, grandchild or any child that is important to you. If you are a Kansas resident, your contribution is tax-free*. Plus, you can choose an investment option that suits your needs. I'm proud to say that we are consistently ranked as one of the top 529 savings plans in the nation. For more information call 1-800-579-2203 or log on to http://learningquestsavings.com.

Municipal Bond Services Division. The bond division acts as the registrar and transfer agent for almost 90% of the outstanding municipal bond issues in the State. This means that if your community built a new library, school, public building or other project, we are most likely servicing the bond on the project. In fact, we service over 2,100 bond issues totaling more than $8.5 billion.

Cash Management Division. The cash management division can literally be described as the state's bank. Whenever you write a check to the state, it eventually finds its way to our office where we account for it and then deposit the check within the state's bank account. The process is the same for each state agency big or small and it happens everyday. In the last year alone, we accounted for over $14.5 billion worth of transactions.

As you can see, we are very busy in the State Treasurer's office. However, this is just the beginning! If you would like more information about any of the goods or services that we provide, I encourage you to call us at (785) 296-3171 or you can visit us online at http://www.kansasstatetreasurer.com for all the latest updates.

In my next column, I will talk more about how you can search for property that your heirs may have left for you and I will be providing ways that you can protect yourself against identity theft. I look forward to serving as your State Treasurer. Please feel free to call my office if there is ever anything we can do for you!

*Some restrictions apply. Please consult a Learning Quest advisor for more information.

Editors note: This column is available in electronic format. Please send an email to jenalea@treasurer.state.ks.us or call (785) 296-3342 to receive a copy.