Starting

next week, Coweta County tag buyers will notice a marked

difference at the county's tag office.

Over the

long Labor Day weekend, state officials will be

installing the new Georgia Registration And Title

Information System at the county's tag office.

Once the

system is installed, Tax Commissioner Tommy Ferrell said

consumers will be pleasantly surprised at how efficient

GRATIS is.

"Instead

of waiting several days for a car title to come back, it

could be back in a day or two," Ferrell said.

The system

was developed when officials at the state Department of

Revenue realized they would have to do a massive update

to make the program Y2K compatible. Instead, the

department decided to create a far more efficient system

that will go on-line this weekend in 129 counties.

As an added

bonus, the state is paying for the equipment and

maintenance so the cost to the counties is minimal.

To get the

new system going, the tag office will also be closed next

Tuesday. But when Wednesday morning rolls around, Ferrell

said the system should be ready to go.

He expects

that there will be a few bugs to be worked out, but

believes GRATIS will prove to be extremely user-friendly

and helpful to the county's tag buyers.

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