The city netted a cool $214,000-plus from Friday's auction of city- and RDA-owned properties.

Assistant City Manager Kirby Hudson, who coordinated the auction, said afterward he was “delighted” with the results.

“And you can print that in capital letters,” Hudson said. “(The sale of these properties) alleviates the city from having to worry about the upkeep for these lots, keeping them free of trash and debris.”

Coatesville officials have announced the city will hold a public auction to sell 16 city-owned properties at 1 p.m. on May 30 at city hall.

A list of properties and other info about the auction can be found here.

The city is seeking a new buyer for its 66-acre property in West Brandywine, known as the Conti farm, because a $1.27 million deal to sell it to the township has fallen apart, Assistant City Manager Kirby Hudson said this week. From Friday's story:

Revenue from the sale of the Conti property was factored into this year’s $10.3 million budget passed by City Council in January.

In 2007, when the city adopted a budget balanced in part with a plan to sell real estate assets, it found itself facing a $1.9 million deficit in the middle of the year when officials were unable to complete those deals quickly enough.

The city fixed the shortage by laying off eight full-time employees and switching two other full-timers to part-time work. There was talk of additional cuts to the police department, but that never happened.

Hudson said he does not expect a repeat of last year’s financial woes.