33,000-penny tax payment refused

CLE ELUM, Wash. -- A businessman who tried to pay a property tax bill with 33,000 pennies got turned down by a county treasurer in Washington, who said she didn't have the staff to count them.

Ron Spears told the Ellensburg Daily Record he rolled buckets of the coins into the Kittitas County treasurer's office Tuesday to protest the fines he incurred by failing to pay a $34 bill that was due in April.

Spears owns Spears Interiors in Cle Elum and also serves on the city council. He said his business is struggling and he didn't have the money at the time.

When Treasurer Deanna Panattoni refused to accept the pennies, Spears agreed to pay in a more conventional manner.