WILKES-BARRE -- John Bonk earned an easy $8,800 in four months by purchasing an old fire truck from the city, then re-selling it on eBay.
Good for Bonk, who owns a trucking company off North Sherman Street, but perhaps bad for the city that sold it to him for $500.
The transaction has raised the ire of City Wide Towing owner Bob Kadluboski, who Tuesday called for fire Chief Jacob Lisman to resign immediately or pay the city $8,800.
The truck in question is a 1963 Mack B-85 Aerial Ladder Truck that the city bought new and retired from service several years ago.
The issue is whether the truck could be returned to the road fairly easily, as Bonk said in his Web ad - or only with great difficulty, as Lisman claims.
Kadluboski thinks the city should have offered the truck on eBay, and should cancel a planned Jan. 8 auction of city property and put those items on eBay, too. "It could raise $20,000 or $30,000 and pay to have the roof on the Heights fire station fixed."p Lisman countered that the 40-year-old ladder truck was sold as salvage, and it would cost a fortune to get it running. He said the truck's description as presented on eBay was overly rosy.
McCarthy's Tire service manager Mike Flynn looked over the truck for the city about four years ago. "It would take at least $6,000 to get it running, possibly a lot more, but at the time I saw it, it did look pretty good."p Bonk set the minimum bid at $500.
"I didn't buy it to make money, I bought it to restore it, but I couldn't get parts for the engine," Bonk said. "I remember that engine from when I was a kid, and I made it a condition of the sale that it be restored by the new owner."p Bonk said the new owner in Flushing, Mich., has a similar truck with a ruined body but a good motor, and added that moving the Mack to Michigan will cost the new owner up to $10,000.
A similar truck, a 1959 model, is listed on eBay to sell for a minimum of $3,000. The current high bid is $3,550 for the truck, which runs and is used regularly in parades.
Beyond eBay, there are Web sites that sell nothing but government property. Govdeals.com, Bid4assets.com and Govliquidation.com are three options municipalities sometimes turn to to fetch higher prices and avoid holding their own auctions.
As for whether the city could get more creative about how it sells equipment, Mayor Tom Leighton but: "Maybe, but people look to buy low and sell high. What's going to happen on Jan. 8 if somebody buys a truck for the city for $500 and sells for $5,000? This is just what happens."
