The idea of

using a bond issue to help fund projects for Peachtree City isn't a new

idea.

In the past,

five different bond referendums have been proposed on city ballots, with

three passing and two failing.

But a recent

proposal from Mayor Bob Lenox calls for voters to decide on the fate of

three separate bond issues which are likely to surface on the ballot on

November.

Two of the

bonds would retire the debt of the city's airport and development authorities,

fund a $2.5 million expansion of the city's tennis center, add another

basketball court and a gymnastics area at the Kedron Recreation Center

and go towards the purchase and improvements to Drake Field. Those two

bonds would total $6.65 million if approved by voters.

The city's

annual payment on both those bonds would be covered by the proposed raising

of the hotel-motel tax from 3 to 5 percent, Lenox contends.

The third bond

proposal, to build a community center for over $5 million, would require

a millage rate increase from between .15 and .3 mils, Lenox said.

The first effort

in Peachtree City to use a bond issue for a city project was in 1980 to

fund a recreation facility. Voters turned down the bid for the $2.5 million

bond issue, according to city records.

A second attempt

at a bond issue came in 1982 when voters approved a $600,000 bond issue

for a maintenance building and capital equipment purchases. The third

bond issue also passed voters' muster, netting $2.35 million for a fire

station, public services and dispatch building.

A fourth bond

issue attempt in 1989 failed, however, with a proposal to secure $7.5

million for reconstruction of the amphitheater facility, which had burned,

and an additional recreation complex with a gym and pool. Former Mayor

Fred Brown Jr. said he thought the bond issue was voted down since it

would have required raising property taxes by almost 1 mil. The amphitheater

was rebuilt later with other city funds, Brown said.

In 1993, voters

approved a $3 million bond that paid for the Kedron Fieldhouse and Aquatic

Center, the Gathering Place and the baseball-soccer complex on Ga. Highway

74 South.