Pa. plans big equipment sale to ease revenue shortfall

HARRISBURG - Budget negotiators last month dug into just about every available pocket of state money, trying to cover the ever-deepening revenue shortfall.

Now they're rooting through the sofa cushions - and selling the sofa, along with other surplus.

Thousands of items, among them wheelchairs and exercise bikes from prisons as well as high-end electronics and tricked-out tires from drug seizures, will go on the auction block Tuesday at the Farm Show complex here.

Aisle after aisle in the massive hall now is lined with pallets of stuff - most used, but some still in boxes - pulled from the cavernous closets of state agencies. There are cabinets and desks from the recently shuttered Philadelphia state office building, lawn mowers and survey equipment from PennDot, industrial kitchen equipment and chafing dishes from Labor and Industry (which operates snack bars), even used urinals from the Farm Show (the complex now has low-flow toilets).

In one corner is an airport-style X-ray machine from the Capitol.

"You can check your friends out when they come over for your party," said Ken Hess, director of the Bureau of Supplies and Surplus.

Then there are remnants of businesses that stood in the way of new road construction and were bought by PennDot - a tanning bed from a hair salon and metal parts cabinets from auto shops.

Through a partnership with the federal government, the state also is selling surplus military gear: camouflage, ammunition cans, tents, winter gloves, and backpack frames.

And who needs a box of protective plastic face masks?

"Think welders," said Hess.

The bling is over in the attorney general's corner: big-screen TVs, game machines, laptops, massive car speakers, and a six-foot-tall, wooden cigar-store Indian.

Proceeds from the seized items go into drug enforcement activities.

"It's a way to make crime pay," said the agency's spokesman, Nils Hagen-Frederiksen.

The last general state surplus auction was held in 2008 and raised $70,000. Hess said the 600 lots of goods that will go on the auction block Tuesday should fetch between $150,000 to $200,000 - chump change next to the $850 million in federal funds not yet nailed down in this year's budget.

Still, Gov. Rendell's spokesman, Gary Tuma, wasn't going to dismiss any fresh infusion of cash, no matter how small.

"After the way the national economy has hit the state in the last two years," he said, "we're happy for every dime we find."

Where: Pennsylvania Farm Show complex, 2300 Cameron St., Harrisburg.

When: Starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday (doors open at 7:30) Preview from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday

For more information, to preregister, or to view the complete list of items to be sold, visit www.dgs.state.pa.us and click on "How do I find surplus property items?"

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