ECISD auction yields $15+K
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

L-N Photo by Brenda Sommer Eyeballing It A potential bidder (center) looks over a battered lawn tractor while auctioneer Doug Mathews (top right corner) takes bids on other items during the El Campo ISD surplus item auction last month. The event, consisting mostly of leftover items from the old middle school, yielded more than $15,000 for the district.

The recent auction of surplus school property netted El Campo ISD more than $15,000, and plans are already in the works to auction off more district property, this time, online.

More than 100 people attended the event, held March 15 at the former El Campo Middle School campus on MLK Boulevard. Most of the items for sale were left over from the abandonment of that campus, although there were other items that had been in storage and were no longer being used by the district.

The gross yielded at the sale was $18,144, but the auctioneer's cut of the take was 15 percent, or $2,712.60. That left the district with $15,422.40, funds that will go back into the district's general operating fund. The sold items will be removed from ECISD's fixed assets inventory.

Included in the March 15 auction were hundreds of stackable chairs, more than 60 square cafeteria tables, 40 science lab tables, and about 500 student desks. As well, the sale featured filing cabinets, tall storage cabinets with doors, dozens of overhead projectors, a couple dozen televisions with stands and around 100 computers.

Odds and ends included cafeteria shelving, student lockers, old metal lathes, a big band saw and a chemical spray rig for turf.

While some items, such as a non-working lawn mower, were sold individually, other items were sold in lots, where the high bidder paid one price for all the items in that lot.

The large number of student desks in the auction were the poorest of the desks at the school. The district culled out the best of them and they are now in use by sixth graders at the new middle school on FM 2765, a facility that opened in February. Desks for seventh and eight graders are new.

The district can't give away property since a gift of public funds is prohibited by the Texas Constitution. Though the items weren't worth much, an auction seemed an appropriate way to dispose of them, Superintendent Mark Pool said.

At last month's monthly ECISD board meeting, Pool got permission to sell six buses, one pickup truck and a van at an online government property auction site.

Pool and Assistant Superintendent for Finance David Bright told trustees the district in the past received almost nothing for its old vehicles at live auctions, but could set minimum prices for the vehicles at the online auction. That way, the district may be able to yield more revenue.

To be listed online are two 1987 buses, two 1989 models and one each of 1986 and 1990 vintages. The mileage on those vehicles ranges from 166,957 to 211,747 miles. Also for sale is a 1989 Chevrolet 1500 pickup with 92,062 miles and a 1995 GMC 1500 van with 60,905 miles.