The Town’s Annual ‘Tag Sale’

Nets Nearly $4,000

By Steve Bigham

The Town of Newtown is like a lot of typical households around town. Over time, unwanted stuff builds up and takes up space, and like many householders, the town holds a tag sale each spring to dispose of it all. And as the old saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Last week, the annual “Newtown Tag Sale” took place at the highway department on Turkey Hill Road and people came from all around to bid on a number of different items. There were copy machines and tractors, chairs, desks, lawn mowers, and plows. The town even sold off an old television set, a mirror, and a couple of old paintings. The sale was advertised in last week’s Newtown Bee.

So where does all this stuff come from? Much of it is old town equipment that has long since been replaced. Rather than just dumping the junk, the town tries to sell it first. The money is added to the town’s general fund.

Bill Waters of Seymour bought himself two of the old rider mowers from the Parks & Recreation Department. One cost him over $500.

“I’m going to use it to mow my lawn,” he said.

This week, Mr Waters returned to the highway department to pick up his old mowers and after jumping one of the engines he finally got it up and running.

Not all of the stuff is old town equipment. According to Public Works Director Fred Hurley, much of the stuff is left over from evictions.

“Under state law, the town ends up being responsible to remove the goods taken from a house after an eviction if the owner doesn’t take care of the stuff. We’ll store the stuff long enough to give them the opportunity to re-coup the stuff. It’s like a pawnshop. If they don’t re-claim, we simply put them up for auction,” he said.

The sale worked like a silent auction with items being displayed in a highway department garage and then reviewed and bid on by various individuals.

“The highest bidder wins. We had as many as 10 bids on one item,” Mr Hurley said.

This year’s sale raised nearly $4,000. One year, the town raised $25,000 from one sale.

“It all depends on what we’ve got to get rid of,” Mr Hurley said.

Town employees are eligible to bid on items, as well, and this year Tim Whelan of the highway department was the high bidder on a copy machine. No word on whether it works or not, but Tim is a mechanic and will probably figure it out.

The town also plans to auction off a couple of pickup trucks later this spring.