ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Trucks, tractors and TVs are just a few items up for grabs, and they’re priced to sell.
It’s all part of the Orange County comptroller’s surplus auction currently underway.
“It might be coming from the property appraiser, it might be coming from our parks and rec department or public works or offices in the county, but it’s a great selection,” said Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond.
Thousands of items are stored in the Orange County surplus warehouse and are part of the Orange County property surplus auction run by Diamond. The week-long auction is being held online.
“It used to be that we’d have these auctions once a year, people had to come down to the warehouse and it really wasn’t that convenient. So what we found is that people like bidding on their schedule and you can bid from anywhere. We have had bidders from different counties, states and even different countries,” Diamond said.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
News 6 took a tour of the warehouse and spotted a few unique items, including classic arcade games. The tabletop unit works, but the taller unit may be damaged beyond repair, according to the auction listing.
There’s a bank safe up for sale.
Outside the warehouse, the lot is filled with vans, trucks, golf carts and tractors.
“It’s back-to-school time and I know a lot of parents might be looking for a car for their teenager to learn on. These are perfect, they’ve already been worn in gently, so there’s a lot of great items to buy,” Diamond said.
Most vehicle bids start at under a thousand bucks.
Some of the vehicles in the auction don’t work and that information is listed on the auction website. You can make an appointment to visit the warehouse and check out the vehicle or item for yourself to see if it’s a project you’re willing to take on for the right price.
Other items in the auction website include bicycles and art from the convention center. In all, at their current starting bids, the items total nearly $60,000, but Diamond said he expects the county will make a higher profit.
“Our highest auction ever was about $920,000. Yeah, we generate real dollars for the county, and it’s only gone up since we’ve gone online. We might get a couple hundred thousand dollars, hopefully more, but we’ll see,” Diamond said.
So where does the money made from these auctions go? Diamond said, right back into the community.
“It goes back into the county for things like law enforcement, fire protection, emergency services. It might to go into parks and rec to update and build parks, it might go into streets, repaving more streets and fixing sidewalks to improve people’s quality of life,” Diamond said.
The auction runs through 3 p.m. on Aug. 2. Click here to browse all the items in the auction.
Diamond is urging everyone to pay attention to the details on the listing to make sure you’ve got the right expectations for the item you want before putting a bid in.
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: