A 1994 lubricating and fuel service truck is among the items up for auction.
BRUNSWICK, Maine — Surplus Navy equipment left behind when the Department of Defense closed Brunswick Naval Air Station is being auctioned off, with the proceeds to benefit the civilian redevelopment effort of the base.
The first phase of the online auction features fire trucks and heavy-duty equipment such as generators and power converters.
Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, which is the organization that now governs activity at the former Navy airfield, said the equipment was transferred to his organization after no one in the Department of Defense claimed it. Levesque said most of the equipment could be of value to airports, municipalities and county governments in Maine, who have already been invited to bid on the items.
“We’re starting with some of the larger rolling stock,” said Levesque. “Once we get done with the rolling stock we’ll be auctioning off some furniture, filing cabinets, computers and things like that. Anyone can bid on these items.”
Available in the first round of bidding, which ends at 5 p.m. Wednesday, are a Grove hydraulic man-lift and a pull-behind sweeper machine, neither of which had attracted a bid of more than $340 as of Wednesday morning.
Items in later rounds, which kick off on Thursday and end on Aug. 22, include an industrial air conditioning unit, trailer-mounted power transformers, a tire mounter and balancer, utility trailers, a Snap-On digital oscilloscope, heavy-duty generators, a fuel truck, a sewer removal truck, fire trucks, mowing equipment, Dodge utility truck beds and plowing equipment including two large snow-blower trucks. The items can be viewed at the website govliquidation.com by choosing “Maine” in the pull-down menu next to where it says “Search for Surplus by Location.”
Levesque said potential bidders can arrange to view the items for sale by calling the MRRA office at 798-6512.
Levesque said the MRRA opted to keep some of the former military equipment and has already purchased some airport maintenance and winter weather equipment with grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration.
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Offered to cities and towns in Maine
Was any of this "taxpayer" funded equipment offered first to local Maine or out of state cities and towns for free? After all it has already been payed for by federal income taxes. Instead, I'm sure, it will be sold to people in the know at pennies on the dollar, some of which will then turn it around and sell it at a nifty profit. So it goes...again and again. It would be nice to have some transparency on who has the winning bids and what happens to our tax funded property.
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