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Online Auctioning, And Some Unexpected Items, Bring High Bids For City Assets

Pittsburgh's Fixed Asset Manager Kevin "Slim" Forsythe said a room full of parking meters was among surplus items recently sold by the city through their new online auctioning program.

In the year since surplus items were made available online, Pittsburgh has made $433,361.52 on item ranging from hats to dump trucks, nearly doubling previous years’ earnings.

The revenue is another example of how technology can improve city government, according toCouncilman Dan Gilman, who proposed online auctioningin 2014.

“We’ve seen people come from as far away as 1,800 miles to win a bid,” he said. “You’re really seeing a tremendous increase and that’s just more revenue for our taxpayers to invest back into our communities.”

The city works in partnership with the website, GovDeals, to list items. GovDeals receives 5 percent of each successfully sold product, but Gilman said the city pays no monthly membership fee.

Before the items went online, Pittsburgh’s Equipment Leasing Authority held occasional auctions at a warehouse along Railroad Street in the Strip District. From 2011 to 2013, the city averaged about $175,000 annually from the on-site auctions.

Gilman said the city has seen “exponential growth” in the number of bidders. A 1999 Ford garbage truck generated the most bids, with 138 requests.

Many of the items sold through GovDeals end up in smaller municipalities.

According to a release from Gilman, 3,017 users bid on Pittsburgh city items. A Tadano TR-300E crane sold for the most money at $33,520.

Kevin “Slim” Forsythe is the Fixed Asset Manager in the Office of Management and Budget for the city and is in charge of posting items online, placing the starting bid and monitoring auctions. He said he loves the job.

“It’s just very exciting, you know, making money, watching the money grow,” Forsythe said.

Forsythe said he loves seeing items sell for significantly more than the asking price. Last week, for example, the city posted a decommissioned trailer online for $750. By the end, it sold for $7,000 with 120 bids.

“Now that’s not the typical case, but we have had several auctions since we started with 20, 30, 40 bids where you list something at $500, $750 and you get $1,000 or $2,500 for it,” Forsythe said.

Forsythe said in the year the city has been working with GovDeals, they’ve sold furniture equipment, drapes, an old printing press and a roomful of old parking meters. Currently two Chevy Silveradosare listed on the website.

Generally Forsythe said selling through GovDeals has been smooth, however getting successful buyers to pick up their items has been difficult.

“Our policy with vehicles is you have to tow it away or haul it on a flat bed, because these things are decommissioned, they’re not inspected, they can’t be legally driven on the highway, of course,” Forsythe said. “The real challenge is arranging for a successful purchasers to come and pick up their stuff.”

“I’ve seen cities selling old police equipment that, for a small borough, is a great piece of equipment,” Gilman said. “We could be selling construction cones; we could be selling old stretchers from our ambulances. You name it, we could be selling it.”

Katie Blackley is a digital editor/producer for 90.5 WESA and 91.3 WYEP, where she writes, edits and generates both web and on-air content for features and daily broadcast. She's the producer and host of our Good Question! series and podcast. She also covers history and the LGBTQ community. kblackley@wesa.fm