The City of Port Aransas made big money in its recent online auction of surplus property, Finance Director Darla Honea told the city council on Thursday, July 15.

The city raked in slightly more than $82,000 in the auction, conducted June 21 to July 7, Honea said. That dwarfs the total of $3,431 made in the previous auction, conducted in 2008, she said.

The city may have had more stuff up for sale this year, but Honea said she thinks the auction made so much more money because it was held entirely online.

It was the first time the city has gone online with an auction, and it brought in buyers from a much wider area.

“We went from previously selling cars for a couple hundred dollars to selling them in the thousands,” Honea said. “It was big-time. People from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Utah were buying.”

Some 121 items were on the auction block including nine Ford Crown Victorias that once were police cruisers, nine pickup trucks, computer equipment, diving equipment, a backhoe, more than 50 bicycles and scooters, fishing equipment and lawn mowers.

Much of the property, like the bicycles and fishing equipment, was property that was found and turned in to the police department, with no owner determined. Some pieces of property were recovered from suspects in thefts and burglaries, but police were unable to locate victims.

The money made from the auction will go to various city funds, mostly the general fund. That will help next year’s budget, Honea said.

“Any time you get more money in the coffers, it will help,” she said.