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Students across North Carolina practice penmanship and learn about civic engagement by writing letters to state officials. We receive several letters every year – not from students, however, but from grateful school administrators who would not have working computers without the help of the State Surplus Property Agency.

“I wanted to say thank you for all your help in acquiring the computers,” wrote Wanda Kelley of Rod of God Christian Academy in Charlotte. “We are up and running, and the students are ecstatic to be back online. (Principal) Dr. Bonnie Allen wanted to add her thank you for all your help.”

During calendar year 2009, the State Surplus Computer Warehouse filled orders for 332 computers that met public or nonprofit school requirements. In collaboration with Information Technology Systems (ITS), we obtained operational computers with cleaned hard drives, repurposed them to support North Carolina students, and kept them out of landfills.

We like to think of this as a textbook win-win-win situation. ITS and State Surplus will continue to work together to help more students succeed and qualifying schools save money on technology. To learn more about this program, visit our Computer Center page.

Like the frugal seamstress who fashioned a silk purse from a sow’s ear, the State Surplus Property Agency is preparing to sell home furnishings seized for unauthorized substance taxes to help refill state coffers.

In collaboration with the N.C. Department of Revenue’s Unauthorized Substance Tax Division, which seized the goods from a manufacturer in Catawba County, Surplus will sell about 200 lots of custom-made furniture and accessories through sealed bids. Some items carry price tags as high as $1,999, but the final sale prices are expected to be much lower.

The approximately 300 items available include plush sofas and chairs upholstered in exotic leathers and brocades, as well as numerous accessories and bolts of upholstery fabric. The first group of goods went on sale on April 9.  The second group of goods will be available for inspection and bid on April 24, visit www.ncstatesurplus.com for details.

Interested bidders are encouraged to review the Terms and Conditions of Sale posted on the Surplus website, including registration and closing bid dates. As always, items are sold “as is” and must be paid for in full and removed promptly.

The revenue generated from all surplus property sales is returned to individual state programs, agencies or the General Fund. The State Surplus Property reports sales of about $21 million annually.