WILLIAMSBURG, Va. A Virginia motorcoach company that lost a charter job to a public school district is looking into a new tactic to recover some of the revenue it missed out on.

Oleta Coach Lines of Williamsburg is seriously considering asking its county taxing agency for a one-time discount on this years taxes, says Sales Director David N. Smith.

"We cant just ignore what happened and look past it," he said.

Smith said the company deserves a tax break because the school district that it supports with its taxes beat it out of a contract from a large retail mall to provide a shuttle service for shoppers on Black Friday in late November.

Oleta bid $12,500 for the contract, but was told by Premium Outlets that it had a lower offer from Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools and the mall was required to take the lowest bid. The school district charged $7,700 for the service.

"This is very upsetting," Smith said. "There is no need for a school system to be doing private charter work,"

While the school district insists it did nothing wrong, it did say that following a review of the situation it has decided to no longer provide such service in the future.

"We dont want to compete with the private sector," stressed Scott A. Burckbuchler, assistant school superintendent for finance and operations.

He said James City County officials asked the school district to provide the shuttles for the mall and the district agreed to do it as a service to the public and county.

"Our purpose was only to provide a service that was of community interest as tax revenues are generated as a result of (shopping mall) sales," he said.

Buckbuchler maintained that the school district was not aware when it accepted the work that a private motorcoach operator was interested in operating the service.

Smith said he learned the school district was going to provide the service about a week before the event and he sent an e-mail to the school board complaining about what he contended was unfair competition by a tax-supported entity. The school district is funded by taxes collected in Williamsburg and James City County.

"This is very disappointing to know that the school system that we support through sponsorships, that we received our grade school education from and that now some of our kids attend, is using tax-payer dollars to compete with our business," he wrote.

He told the board that Oleta is ready to provide the shuttle service for the mall and he urged the school district to immediately withdraw its contract.

Smith, however, said he did not hear from the school district until four days after the sales event. Thats when he received an e-mail from Burckbuchler in which the assistant superintendent apologized for not responding sooner and assured him the school district was not interested in competing with Oleta. He added that the district would not provide the service again.

Smith said the missed work meant that not only did his company lose revenue, but about a dozen drivers were deprived of making extra money, which would have been a nice holiday bonus for them.

"Our drivers, by the way, are almost all residents of Williamsburg," he noted.

Despite not being able to provide the shuttle service this year, Smith said he is pleased with the outcome of the incident because of the school districts decision not to get involved in the shuttle service again.

"My only concern now is will they be providing charter service for others."