Orange County auction going online

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A pair of X-ray security scanners, a meat slicer, and a treadmill are just some of the things Orange County has stored in a gargantuan warehouse in South Orlando. It’s filled with unused stuff that’s just accumulated over the last couple of months, from the county jail and other departments.

Now it’s time for Orange County to clean house and sell all this stuff. Typically you’d have to show up at an auction on a specific day at a specific time to get anything. But soon all of this could be yours with a click.

“I think it makes sense,” reasoned Phil Diamond, the Orange County Comptroller, “we get a wider audience if we go online and offer it up to anybody really anywhere in the state of Florida, America, even outside the country.”

The county’s annual auction will be moving online.  That means easier access, more convenience, more bidders, which all equals more money coming in.

“Obviously, the more people you get to the auction, the more bidders you're going to have, the more bidders you have the more money the county makes, and the more money the county makes, the more we save the taxpayers,” Diamond said.

So what’s up for sale? Diamond gave us the grand tour. There were computers by the palate, digital cameras, office furniture, and chairs by the truck-load.  You never can tell what the county's going to be auctioning-off, including an examination table from one of the county medical clinics.

Need to do some serious laundry? They have four heavy duty washing machines from the jail available. Need a new ride? There’s a medical examiner van on the auction block. There’s also stadium lights and a scoreboard on offer.

“Like I said, if you buy the scoreboard, you can make sure your team is always winning,” Diamond quipped.

There’s even a suit of armor from the county’s department of youth and family services. The county will announce the online auctions in the coming months.