01Nov

Public Surplus Auctions at Bernalillo County

An interview with Martin Gallegos about the online Public Surplus Auction that Bernalillo County participates in, along with government agencies from across the country.



Franchesca Stevens, Information Specialist with Bernalillo County, interviews Martin Gallegos, Fixed Assets Manager for Bernalillo County. Bernalillo County uses Public Surplus to get rid of their surplus. Martin Explains how the County accumulates Surplus and explains what Surplus Property is.

The county has been using Public Surplus since May 2011. Since that time they have had over 1500 Auctions and have exceeded a profit of 1 million dollars. Bernalillo County switched from doing live auctions because of the commission fees, having to move the items to and from location, having to do spreed-sheets and go off of manifests, they didn't like how the auction had all the control, and it wasn't innovated enough to make the desired revenue. Martin expressed gratitude that with Public Surplus the county can set their own parameters. He then explains that his "audit night-mare" is over since Public Surplus audits themselves and that there is an automatic audit trail. Bernalillo County is amazed at the things that will sell on Public Surplus. Martin explains that after the items are sold Public Surplus collects the payment from the bidders and once a month cuts a check to the county. The County loves how descriptive you can be when selling the items, either through pictures or even videos of the items. Martin tells viewers where to go to use Public Suprlus.