Selling off a batch of unused heavy equipment, vehicles and other items recently netted the Park County government nearly $300,000. Considering the age and condition of many of the items, Park County Engineer Brian Edwards said the sum raised by the online auction was “substantially more than we were hoping to achieve.”

The top dollar items were a pair of 10-yard dump trucks — a 2008 Sterling and a 2010 Volvo — which sold for $68,000 and $44,000, respectively. Other items ranged from an inflatable raft and trailer no longer needed by Park County Search and Rescue ($1,600) to a portable newspaper/paper compactor no longer needed by the landfill department ($400) to old picnic tables from the buildings and grounds department (starting at $10) to unneeded print cartridges from IT ($5 apiece).

Not all of the more than 160 items sold — for instance, some old orange office chairs went unclaimed — but the vast majority did. Edwards said the total sale proceeds topped $330,000.

The auction was run by M&M Auction Services of Powell.

“This team really did an outstanding job organizing, coordinating, and managing our online only auction from start to finish,” Edwards said. “They exceeded our expectations and we are very happy with how the sale turned out.”

Edwards said he was also glad to see the county’s unneeded equipment being repurposed and used in the community.

— By CJ Baker