Only three other states got more federal surplus property last year than Utah, which secured millions of dollars' worth of everything from a jet aircraft to paper goods free from the U.S. government.
Texas got the biggest share of the more than $300 million in federal surplus property given to states during the 1989 fiscal year, followed by Missouri and California.Utah obtained federal surplus property during the past fiscal year that had cost the government $15 million and is now considered worth at least $3.8 million.
How did Utah compete so well against the rest of the United States for supplies and equipment that the federal government has decided it no longer needs?
"It's just a matter of being very aggressive and working very hard," said Bill Arseneau, director of the state Division of Surplus Property. "It's not a glamorous program, but it's an effective one."
Arseneau and his staff of 14 pore over surplus property lists released regularly by the federal government to see what's available. Then they make a pitch to officials of the Federal Surplus PropertyProgram.
So far, they've managed to talk the federal government into giving Utah a wide variety of items, including a sword given by a foreign government to a former secretary of state. The sword is now on display at Brigham Young University.
All of it is free to the division, which then charges the government and non-profit agencies getting the goods a handling fee calculated at 3.7 percent of original cost plus any transportation expenses.
That results in some pretty good bargains. For example, Salt Lake Community College paid about $1,000 for a T-39 jet aircraft valued at about $800,000 that had been scrapped by the Defense Department.
The jet is being used to train students in the college's aircraft maintenance program. While it had to be trucked into the state from an Air Force base in Arizona, the students now have it ready to fly.
The total cost of federal surplus property to state and local government agencies, school districts, colleges and universities, hospitals, homeless shelters and other non-profit agencies was less than $300,000 last year.
Most entities would not be able to afford the merchandise they get through the program if they had to pay the actual cost, Arseneau said, citing the community college's jet aircraft as an example.
Even more supplies and equipment are expected to become available because of cutbacks in defense spending by the federal government, including the closures of military bases.