January 28, 2011 12:00 am
BOB ZELLAR/Gazette Staff Michael Dilley, Billings Public Schools director of purchasing, places a price tag Friday on an item for sale in the school district's surplus equipment sale, which is Saturday at the Montana Pavilion at MetraPark. The garage sale is at 8 a.m., and the lot sale starts at 10 a.m.
Related Video
- Sneak peak at SD2 surplus sale
- Billings School District 2 invites the public for a preview of items for sale at the annual surplus sale Saturday at MetraPark in the Montana Pavilion.
If you go
What: Billings School District 2 surplus sale
When: 8 a.m. Saturday; preview at 1:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Montana Pavilion, MetraPark
Info: Call Mike Dilley at 281-5571
You can finally get that rolling book cart you've always wanted.
Billings School District 2 is selling one, as well as a host of other items, during its annual surplus sale Saturday at MetraPark in the Montana Pavilion.
The district has hundreds of items for sale, including such things as a set of lockers, teacher desks, an electric organ, refrigerators, white boards, lawn mowers, wrestling mats and shop equipment.
The sale is split into two groups. Smaller items — such as musical instruments, books and individual televisions and VCRs — are sold for a flat price on the garage sale side of the pavilion.
On the other side, large items like the wrestling mats, lawn mowers and a flatbed truck — as well as pallets piled with office equipment — will be sold through silent auction. Bidding on most of the items — and pallets of items — will start at $5. Bidding on some of the shop equipment, mats and car parts will start a little higher, somewhere between $10 and $50.
The district's goal with the surplus sale is to cover its costs of renting the space at MetraPark and paying for the labor to run it.
The auction traditionally attracts churches, day care centers, artists, woodworkers and mechanics. Each year there are a few enterprising buyers who purchase as much as they can — typically shop equipment — and sell it for a profit online.
The surplus sale is the only legal way the district can get rid of extra equipment, SD2 officials have said. Public agencies are required by law to sell their surplus equipment to the public before throwing it out.
A preview of the sale will be from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Friday in the Montana Pavilion at MetraPark. Garage sale items go on sale at 8 a.m. Saturday. The big items and pallets of equipment will be auctioned off beginning at 10 a.m.
Contact Rob Rogers at rrogers@billingsgazette.com or 657-1231.
