ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604080034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE GOVERNOR ABANDONED SHIP too quickly in selling the state yacht, according to a member of the family that donated the vessel.
Virginia taxpayers got a raw deal when Gov. George Allen sold the state yacht for $106,500, a former state senator whose father donated the 57-foot craft to Virginia said.
Edward M. Holland of Arlington said the yacht, the Chesapeake, was worth $175,000 to $200,000. State officials had hoped to receive up to $500,000 for the boat, which Allen criticized as a symbol of a bloated bureaucracy.
``Somebody got a real bargain,'' Holland said. ``Too bad for the state, nice for whoever got it.''
Bob Ware, owner of Harbor View Yacht Sales in Westmoreland County, agreed with Holland's estimate of the boat's worth.
``It sounds like someone got themselves a good buy,'' he said Thursday.
Allen spokeswoman Julie Overy defended the sale, noting that the state no longer will have to pay approximately $58,000 a year to operate and maintain the yacht.
The boat also needed other work.
``I understand that the interiors were in need of some upgrades,'' Overy said.
The state has spent about $150,000 on repairs to the boat since 1988. Most of that went for a major overhaul and new engines. About $7,000 was spent for routine maintenance just before it was sold.
The state sold the boat at auction to construction executive J.W. Grand of Raleigh, N.C. His bid, one of 40 received, was $16,000 more than the next-highest bid.
Overy said the administration decided taking the bid was the best course.
``We were required to sell the boat by June 30 of this year,'' she said. ``Nobody felt like extending it to the outer limit of the deadline'' would get a better price.
Holland said the state should have used a minimum bid system to prevent someone from getting too good a bargain.
Allen, a Republican, pledged during his 1993 campaign to sell the yacht, saying it was an unneeded luxury. He never used the boat, which was given to the state in 1976.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission operated the Chesapeake. It was based on the Eastern Shore and used to reach isolated Tangier Island and to take economic development prospects to view waterfront property.
Allen also has sold the state limousine and a 1981 twin-engine Bell 222 helicopter.
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