By 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, Coweta County officials were breathing a lot easier.

With all the votes counted, the county’s proposal to extend the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax easily passed by a 62-38 margin. Voters approving the proposal totaled 3,049, while 1,867 voted against it. Just under 9 percent of Coweta’s 55,813 voters cast ballots in the election.

The margin was a lot larger than many long-time politicos in the county predicted, but the extension of the tax allows the county to move forward with a number of projects.

The county projects $127 million would be raised from 2007-2012 and be used for a variety of capital improvements, including bridges, roads and new county facilities.

The lion’s share of Coweta County portions of the money would go towards road and intersection improvements. Nearly $54 million is alloted to rehabilitate such intersections as Lora Smith and Lower Fayetteville Road, Mary Freeman and Poplar Road and Macedonia Road and Ga. Highway 16. The county would receive $86 million of the funds, while the municipalities would share the remaining $41 million.

The city of Senoia would receive $3.5 million in SPLOST proceeds over five years and $1 million would go towards improving the existing town hall and police departments or replacing them.

The county also plans to use nearly $5 million towards purchasing six engines, three tankers and an aerial platform truck for the county’s fire department.