Promoting functions of his office, Pack talks unclaimed property, education funding

“My wife and I are CPAs. We found about $300 a few months ago," Pack said. "I found some money at a company we sold 20 years ago a month ago, so it could happen to anybody.

“It could be as small as a utility bill refund. But also we identified a life insurance policy — for a young widow — earlier in the summer and it was $700,000. Her husband — who died suddenly, tragically — had a life insurance policy she didn't know anything about.�

Hope Scholarship

The recipient of the latest unclaimed property is Cabell County Schools.

“We're very tickled to ... give them the money, but also just to give some encouragement. The number one job in the state — I think, really — is education, educating our children. These folks are on the state line, on the front lines doing it. You wouldn't choose that as a livelihood if you didn't really believe in it,� he said.

Pack said he aims to strike a balance between supporting public schools and school choice for families in the state.

The Treasurer's Office administers the Hope Scholarship, an education savings account program that allows families to use the state portion of their education funding to choose an individualized learning experience, such as private school or homeschooling. 

Funding can be used for tuition, curriculum and other qualifying expenses. Pack says it’s an important option because each child is unique and some of them would benefit from an alternative to public schooling.

The office releases an annual report showing how the money is spent; the next one for this past fiscal year will be out next month.

The Hope Scholarship was recently expanded to all K-12 students enrolled at West Virginia public schools. The expansion caused Hope enrollment to jump this year from 15,000 to 25,000 students.

“I believe that if you are a statewide officeholder or you're a legislator, you have to be pro-public schools and you have to remember that you know, yeah, we got 25,000 in Hope Scholarship but we've got 230,000 — rough numbers — in public schools and we have to be,� he said. “I'm pro-both, but I think you have to be pro-public education because that's the number one job as I understand, that's the number one job of the state is to provide a very good public education.�

In supporting public school education, Pack also said he believes every teacher should make at least $50,000.

“They've invested four years and a lot of money to get that college education, so we need to do better. We can do better. I think we'll see some traction on that this year,� Pack said.

A look at top W.Va. issues

Pack believes the top three issues West Virginia is currently facing are education, jobs and infrastructure, in that order of priority.

“I'd say the top tier, absolutely education and jobs. So when I think about jobs, I think about all our challenges, and we have rural Appalachian challenges, right? There's no place that doesn't have any challenges. We don't have New York City challenges or Chicago challenges, but we have rural Appalachian challenges. Most every challenge that we have can be lessened or mitigated if we have more jobs,� he said.

He says that he recognizes West Virginia is “always gonna be a fossil fuel state, so we'll do everything we can to create more jobs in fossil fuels, but we can't just be a fossil fuel state.�

He also thinks the state’s manufacturing sector needs to be brought back, especially in Cabell County with companies like Nucor in nearby Mason County. He said having more jobs would solve a lot of problems, such as keeping more of the next generation in the state and paying taxes.

The third priority, he said, should be infrastructure maintenance and development, specifically for water and sewer because lacking those necessities is the biggest impediment to building more housing in the state.

“We have places that are shrinking and so you have 25% of the people trying to keep up an infrastructure that used to have four times as many people,� he said. “Particularly the coal fields and how those areas are struggling because they just lost so much population.�

He says roads are also important, and W.Va. 2 in Cabell and Mason counties has been a point of discussion for a while, particularly with the addition of Nucor and other job creators in the region. He said redeveloping the Ohio River road would connect Cabell and Mason counties the way Cabell is connected to Putnam County.

“I think we've maybe lost a little bit of momentum in the last few years, but that's also a place where inflation's really hurt us bad. It costs so much more to build roads than it did pre-COVID,� he said.

Future goals

With an eye on statewide issues, Pack, 68, may generate conversation over his next political aspirations.

An eastern Kanawha County native, he said he and his family intended for his current treasurer position to be his "retirement job" as well as a great way to make a difference in the state where he grew up.

“We wanna serve, we wanna keep doing something, but I love the job we have," he said. "We're not in control of the future, so we'll figure out what happens in the future, but we don't spend any time worrying about the future.� 

Pack was elected treasurer in 2024.

“Treasurer is a job you really can make a difference in, and I'm kind of surprised about the things we get to work on, get to talk about,� he said.