A bargain hunter’s paradise
Surplus Auction set up for Saturday
By: Liz Hacken, Press & Sun Bulletin

 
Auctioneer Matt Manasse of Mel Manasse & Son Auctioneers, records information Thursday on Broome County vehicles which will be sold Saturday at the annual Broome-Tioga Surplus Auction at Grippen Park in Endicott

              Setting up for the Broome-Tioga Surplus Auction is more of a treasure hunt than work for auctioneer Matt Manasse.
            Everywhere he turns, the items seem to get stranger.  A U.S. Army surplus kitchen trailer filled with kitchen utensils and a truck.  A gently used whirlpool.  Rubber furniture from the county jail.
            “Every day I am amazed,” said Manasse, of Mel Manasse & Son of Whitney Point.  “You never know what you’re going to find.”       
            This year’s auction is set for 10:00 a.m. Saturday at Grippen Park in Endicott.  Preview and registration begins at 8:00 a.m.    
            Broome and Tioga counties, as well as local municipalities and school districts, have teamed up to sell their surplus items at auction for about five or six years.   The event draws hundreds of bidders and spectators curious about what their governments are looking to sell.
            Bidders need not worry about a repeat of last year’s auction, when a torrential downpour waterlogged some vehicles up for bid and postponed the event.  The National Weather Service is call for only a 60 percent chance of light rain.
             Last year’s auction grossed $169,500 - $28,000 of that for Broome County, even with the postponement.
            “Even with the flood last year, everything sold,” County Purchasing Agent Janet Laszewski said. “Maybe bidders thought they were getting an extra bargain.”
         Money from the auction goes back into Broome County departments or entities who contributed the items.  The anticipated revenue isn’t put in the county budget.  So if items don’t sell as well as they should, nothing would have to be cut from the budget to make it up, Laszewski said.
            Items that don’t sell are taken away by a salvage company.
            The Binghamton Police Department contributes the most unusual items by far from its evidence vault, Laszewski said.  This year’s offerings include cell phones, new clothes, jewelry and rifle sights.  
            County Clerk Rick Blythe also saw his share of oddities up for auction when he was county purchasing director.  He remembers a few pairs of Gucci knockoff shoes – all size 13 – seized as evidence.  Last year, there was even a false tooth.
            “When the police arrest someone for drugs and seize their property, you never know what you can find,” Blythe said.
         Surplus vehicles also draw a lot of interest at the auction.   Fifteen Ford Crown Victoria police cards will be up for bud.  Some county vehicles, like sheriff deputies’ vehicles, are retired before most average users would trade in their cars, which can make them a bargain.
            “There’s a point in time when you don’t want a deputy going 80 miles per hour on the road if the car has over 100,000 miles,” Blythe said.
            Not everything up for auction is perfect.  The auctioneers caution bidders that items are sold as is, and they let buyers know the defects.  But it’s a good place for people looking for a new project to tinker with.
            “If you’re handy, a lot of this can be a good buy,” Blythe said.

[Press & Sun Bulletin, Local & State – Friday, September 16, 2005]