Updated July 1 with additional information on the auction costs

Cascade County public works is trying to sell 21 older fleet vehicles and a tractor.

The vehicles have either been replaced or are obsolete and are no longer needed.

Les Payne, county public works director, said during the June 18 work session that the county has been using an online public auction website, but since COVID haven’t had good luck and now have a stockpile of old vehicles.

He said they’ve never used Ox and Sons for auctioning county surplus vehicles, but were giving that a try to see if they have better luck selling than online.

The auction will be held in July and Payne said he’ll post details to the county website and issue public notices.

The vehicles will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, but items that don’t reach the minimum reserve bid won’t be sold.

Half of the listed vehicles were on the public surplus auction website in May and didn’t meet the minimum reserve price, according to county public works.

“I don’t know what happened at the car market since COVID. Before we could sell Interceptors a lot. We haven’t sold one in two years,” Payne told commissioners during their work session.

The online auction is free for the county, but the county hasn’t been able to sell their inventory for several auctions.

Ox and Sons charges a fee, but it’s dependent on the sale price of a vehicle.

For example, Payne told The Electric, if a vehicle sells for $10,000, that would cost the county $395 and a $30 reserve fee, or a vehicle that sells for $7,000 would cost the county $365 and the $30 reserve fee.

The county sets it’s minimum reserve price, so Payne said he’ll increase that price by $500 to cover any associated fees to ensure the county receives the full sale price.