Archive: Around Town

If you happened to pass Town Barn Road last Saturday (9/10) you may have noticed that it was lined with cars and pickup trucks for as far as the eye could see.  They were there for the annual municipal auction that Lansing hosts every year.

Rows upon rows of cars, trucks and equipment were lined up in the lot behind the Highway Department building including back hoes, school busses, police cars, tractors, lawn mowers and just about anything you could imagine in a municipal sale.  Potential buyers were on the site early to look over the merchandise and plan their bidding strategies.

Equipment comes from local municipalities including counties, towns, villages and school districts, plus a few local contractors who bring items to be sold.  "We have 70 different consigners here," Cindy Wolcott, Municipal Sales Manager for the auctioneer, told us.  Some bring one piece and others like Tompkins County or Cortland County might bring 20 pieces.   Lansing also puts up items for sale.  "We've got a few small items," said Highway Superintendent Jack French.  "Nothing big this year.  Next year we should have a truck and maybe a roadside mower."

Buyers come from all over the state, and from other states as well.  Buyers from Maine, New Jersey and Pennsylvania  were present, and one from Miami called in absentee bids.  Ms. Wolcott told us if tires aren't sold the owners must dispose of them, but otherwise everything is sold.  "If one lot doesn't sell we put it with the next one," she says.  They also sell tables and chairs and smaller items like refrigerators and stoves as a service to their consignees, so they don't have to spread them among two or three different auctions.  But the company specializes in municipal equipment.

The equipment is too big to move to a single location, so the auctioneer moves from item to item in a small truck.  A large window is open in the side, and as the truck slowly moves from item to item the crowd follows, bidding as they move along.  The auctioneer didn't miss a beat, immediately beginning the bidding on the next item as soon as the last was sold.

Last year the sale grossed around $700,000.  "It's typically between $500,000 and $800,000," Ms. Wolcott told us.  "We also collect sales tax for the county, which is a positive thing, and we get more money for the equipment than if the towns traded it.  It's been a very good avenue for them to sell their surplus equipment."

Roy Teitsworth, Inc. conducts the auction in Lansing.  Former Highway Superintendent Pete Larson had attended a similar auction years ago, and thought it would be a great idea for this area.  He arranged with the company to have an auction here.  Jack French asked them to continue when he took over the post.  In return for hosting the auction Lansing's Highway Department receives a percentage of the profits.

The company typically conducts 60 to 65 sales per year, including four municipal auctions in the Spring and four in the Fall.  They have held the Lansing auction on the second Saturday of September for at least ten years.  "It's one of our favorite sales, "Ms. Wolcott says.  "The people in the area are very nice and friendly and very supportive, and we really enjoy coming back here."

The sale is a win-win for municipalities that make money on their surplus equipment and may pick up a bargain on equipment they need.  With a percentage of the profits and bringing people into the town, it is a win for Lansing as well.

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