Houston puts range of items up for auction

Well-worn Ford Crown Victorias, some old trucks, computer equipment, jail bunk beds, breathalyzers and many other items are up for sale in the annual Houston County surplus auction.

The auction is set for 10 a.m. Thursday at the Houston County Warehouse at 2022 Kings Chapel Road in Perry. Inspection of the items is set from 9-10 a.m. Thursday.

First up for sale will be 21 vehicles, including nine Crown Vics and seven trucks of varying sizes. Most of the vehicles have between 100,000 and 200,000 miles. Most of the Crown Vics were used by the sheriff’s office.

Buyers can crank the vehicles before the auction but can’t get a test drive. Nothing at the auction comes with a guarantee, said Houston County purchasing agent Mark Baker.

“Most of these run,” Baker said as he showed the vehicles earlier this week. “They still have some usable life in them, not for us, but for the average person who just wants to ride around, this might be a good place to get you a deal.”

For those with a taste for the unusual, the auction includes several items of interest, including two sets of metal jail bunk beds. A lake buoy complete with a flashing light also is up for sale. The buoy had been at Houston Lake to warn boaters away from a danger area, Baker said.

Also for sale will be two breathalyzer machines and a metal detector used to recover evidence at crime scenes.

In last year’s auction, the county had a reserve on one item — a fire truck that didn’t fetch the minimum bid. The county sold it later to another fire department. But this year, Baker said, all items in the auction will be sold to the high bidder, whatever the bid might be.

Many laptops and computers are in the auction, but all the hard drives have been removed.

Two pallets of VHS video recording systems that had been in sheriff’s patrol cars are up for sale.

One item that would seem to have a hard time finding a buyer is a fingerprint machine. But it is in a lot that includes Crown Vic hubcaps, battery chargers and other items that might be more useful to the average person.

Baker said everything always ends up selling at some price or another.

That could be a challenge this year, however, with some old computer monitors. Similar monitors in last year’s auction drew little interest from buyers, and many monitors ended up being lumped into one lot that sold for $5.

All sales must be paid for the day of the auction in either cash or approved local check. Buyers paying by check should get there early to have their check approved before the auction. Registration begins at 9 a.m.

For a complete list of items in the auction, click on the Purchasing Department’s link under the “business” tab at www.houstoncountyga.org, or call 478-218-4800.

This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Houston puts range of items up for auction."