Coweta voters

could have an intriguing decision to make if the Coweta County Board of

Education decides to call for another special purpose local option sales

tax vote next year.

The current

SPLOST expires in 2002 and school board members are still looking at various

options to fund new construction.

But Superintendent

of Education Richard Brooks said a proviso in the SPLOST legislation would

allow the school board to pay off its long term debt of bond issues that

were sold years ago.

"This

could save the school system millions of dollars if we choose to go that

way since they would be paid off early," he said.

Additionally,

the board would be able to lower the property tax rate by 2.25 mills,

which would give the county's property taxpayers a big break, he said.

The owner of a $100,000 home would save about $85.

Brooks expects

discussions about the tax to be continued at the Jan. 9 school board meeting

with a possible decision being made by the board.