Iowa State could lose thousands on sale of president's plane

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2012, file photo, Iowa State President Steven Leath speaks during his installation ceremony in Ames, Iowa. The university expects to lose tens of thousands of dollars unloading an airplane it purchased 2 ½ years ago for Leath's travel, contradicting his claim in December 2016 that the sale could turn a profit. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - This 2015 file photo provided by the Bloomington Normal Airport Authority shows a damaged wing of a Cirrus SR22 single-engine plane at the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, Ill. Iowa State University President Steven Leath caused damage to the university airplane he was piloting when it made a hard landing at the airport in July 2015. The university expects to lose tens of thousands of dollars unloading the airplane it purchased 2 ½ years ago for Leath's travel, contradicting his claim in December 2016 that the sale could turn a profit. (Bloomington Normal Airport Authority via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

Iowa State University expects to lose tens of thousands of dollars unloading an airplane it purchased 2 ½ years ago for his President Steven Leath's travel.

A notice seeking a broker to handle the sale says Iowa State will likely list the 2011 Cirrus between $429,000 and $480,000, and is willing to negotiate to have it sold within 90 days.

That range is less than what a university statement called the "exceptional price" of $498,000 it paid in 2014 — before the broker gets paid a likely five-figure fee.

Such depreciation wouldn't be unusual. But Leath told reporters in December that he expected to make money or break even on the planned sale, announced the day an audit found he used it for a mix of official and personal business.