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<PAGE> PAGE 2
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<PAGE> PAGE 10
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<PAGE> PAGE 17
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<PAGE> PAGE 21
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<PAGE> PAGE 22
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<PAGE> PAGE 23
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SIGNATURE DAVID F HILL
TITLE PRESIDENT
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WARNING: THE EDGAR SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED ERROR(S) WHILE PROCESSING THIS SCHEDULE.
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WARNING: THE EDGAR SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED ERROR(S) WHILE PROCESSING THIS SCHEDULE.
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WARNING: THE EDGAR SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED ERROR(S) WHILE PROCESSING THIS SCHEDULE.
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WARNING: THE EDGAR SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED ERROR(S) WHILE PROCESSING THIS SCHEDULE.
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Report of Ernst & Young LLP, Independent Auditors
To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders of the SAFECO Tax-
Exempt Bond Trust
We have audited the accompanying statements of assets
and liabilities, including the portfolios of investments in
securities, of the SAFECO Tax-Exempt Bond Trust (comprising,
respectively, the SAFECO Intermediate-Term Municipal Bond
Fund, SAFECO Insured Municipal Bond Fund, SAFECO Municipal
Bond Fund, SAFECO California Tax-Free Income Fund, and
SAFECO Washington State Municipal Bond Fund) as of December
31, 1998, and the related statements of operations, the
statements of changes in net assets, and the financial
highlights for each of the periods indicated therein. These
financial statements and financial highlights are the
responsibility of the Trust's management. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial
statements and financial highlights based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with generally
accepted auditing standards. Those standards require that
we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance
about whether the financial statements and financial
highlights are free of material misstatement. An audit
includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the
amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and
financial highlights. Our procedures included confirmation
of securities owned as of December 31, 1998, by
correspondence with the custodians and brokers. An audit
also includes assessing the accounting principles used and
significant estimates made by management, as well as
evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We
believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our
opinion.
In our opinion, the financial statements and financial
highlights referred to above present fairly, in all material
respects, the financial position of each of the respective
funds constituting the SAFECO Tax-Exempt Bond Trust at
December 31, 1998, the results of their operations, the
changes in their net assets, and financial highlights for
each of the periods indicated therein, in conformity with
generally accepted accounting principles.
Seattle, Washington
February 5, 1999
