New York City is reportedly selling nearly $225 million worth of COVID merchandise for just $500k.

The city auctioned nearly $225 million worth of surplus COVID-19 medical equipment and protective equipment for just $500,000, or a paltry 0.2 cents on the dollar, according to a stunning report released Tuesday.

About 3,000 ventilators were sold in a January 24 sale that cost taxpayers $12 million but were dumped as “non-functioning medical equipment for scrap metal” at a floor price of just $24,600, according to non-profit news website The City. dollars. .

It reportedly took 28 trucks for a Long Island junk dealer to haul out the once-scarce gadgets that former Mayor Bill de Blasio predicted would help the Big Apple “get through this crisis and prepare for the next.”

“This is a story about doing the impossible,” de Blasio boasted on April 21, 2020. “We’ve never made fans before—and that’s why we’ve made thousands. We found out it would take a year and did it in a month.”

The De Blasio administration also overpaid for items that included 50,000 face shields at $6.70 each, compared to the average price at the start of the pandemic of $3.67, city officials said, citing city comptroller Brad Lander.

They are now part of a massive bid of 701,000 face shields that were reportedly put up for auction last week with a starting price of just $1,000, or 0.14 cents each.

City officials blamed the epic discounts on de Blasio’s decision to withhold any oversight of his panic buying, which prevented then-controller Scott Stringer from scrutinizing the emergency contracts.

One $9.1 million contract was reportedly awarded to controversial New Jersey-based Digital Gadgets for ventilators, which the company failed to supply and instead provided N95 masks to the city.

But the first masks it delivered were “poor quality or not FDA-certified,” though the company charged $4 each and the average price was $3.10, according to Lander.

Digital Gadgets is owned by Charlie Tebele, a major contributor to de Blasio and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both of whom are Democrats.

Last year, it was revealed that Tebele was charging the state $637 million — nearly double the normal rate — for COVID-19 testing kits in a deal that critics called “pay-to-play.”

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins ​​(D-Yonkers) said last month she dismissed Republican calls for an investigation, saying she took Hochul “at her word” that there was no wrongdoing.

Some of the items purchased by the de Blasio administration had an expiration date, including 2,800 cases of hand sanitizer wipes that officials tried to sell for $56,000 on Jan. 12, when the expiration date was due on Jan. 31, city officials said. .

An internal email dated July 2022 reportedly revealed that a Department of Citywide Administrative Services employee who handles sales had expressed concern that if the public found out, it would lead to an investigation into “overbuying during COVID.”

The email also says that DCAS “created topics for discussion” after “direct consultation” with Mayor Eric Adams’ office, The City reported.

DCAS spokesman Nick Benson told The City that the pandemic-related spending escalation was necessary to build a 90-day supply chain during a “dark and difficult time for all New Yorkers.”

“Fortunately, New Yorkers and our heroic frontline healthcare workers have come together to prevent some of the worst scenarios,” Benson added.

Benson also said some of the surplus was donated to Ukraine, Indonesia, Ghana, Haiti, South Africa, or non-profit organizations, while selling the rest for next to nothing “is required by the city’s charter.”

During an unrelated afternoon press conference at City Hall, Adams blamed the losses on a bureaucratic requirement to sell surplus purchases after 90 days.

“It’s just a bad rule,” he said. “COVID has created an environment that none of us expected, so we had to buy a lot more than we normally would.”

“So somewhere in the bylaws we need to specify that under certain circumstances we are not being forced to, ‘Hey, it’s 90 days, let’s get rid of this stuff, no matter how much it costs. ”