The Hall County School Board brought in $23,091 at its public surplus auction Wednesday morning.

The board sold nine school buses, including three that had been totaled, for $8,110, 16 other vehicles for $11,325 and miscellaneous other items for $3,656.

The money will be put into the board's general fund, said Hall County Schools Deputy Superintendent Lee Lovett.

The last time the school board had a surplus auction was in 2008. That one raked in more than $13,000, Lovett said.

He said 35 people attended this year's auction.

In order for school boards to make money from surplus items, they must either sell them to another school system or auction them to the public. The items cannot be sold individually. Lovett said the board chose to hold on to surplus items for a couple of years because it would have cost more to transport them to a junk yard than they were worth.

Not all of the surplus items were sold at public auction. Some food service implements were reserved for online auction in order to gain access to a different customer base, Lovett said.