The Georgia Department of Revenue is giving motorists a present at the start of the new year, a drop in motor fuel taxes.

The state sales tax on gasoline will drop from 11 cents per gallon to 7.1 cents per gallon on Thursday.

Under Georgia law, the revenue department sets the sales tax for gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel and liquefied propane gas on Jan. 1 and July 1 each year. This year, Gov. Sonny Perdue issued an executive order in June freezing the sales tax at the January 2008 level.

As of midnight New Years Eve, four people had lost their lives in Georgia in the annual holiday traffic count.  The Georgia Department of Public Safety is not reporting any traffic fatalities in North Georgia so far.

Over the Christmas Holiday Traffic period there were no fatalites reported from the Rome, LaFayette or Calhoun Posts of the Georgia State Patrol.  The New Years Holiday Traffic period began at 6 PM on yesterday and runs through Sunday at midnight.

Law Enforcement officials across the state have been out in force looking for impaired drivers on Georgia’s roadways.  If you see an impaired driver you can use your cell phone to report to the Georgia State Patrol.  Simply call *GSP….it’s a free call!

The Chattooga County Transfer Station and remote dumpster sights will be closed for the New Years Holiday today.  Chattooga County Public Works Director Lamar Canada said that the sights would be open tommorrow.

The municipalities in Chattooga County will not be open today.  Trion, Summerville, Lyerly and Menlo business and maintenance offices will be closed today.  For emergencies the public should call 911.

Many area business’s were closed yesterday, or closed early and many will remain closed today.

As the new year begins, Chattooga County has a new Sheriff and a new County Commissioner and no Animal Control Officer.

That’s because former Chattooga County Animal Control officer Joe Johnston resigned affective midnight last night.  Johnston said in his resignation letter that he felt incoming County Commissioner Jason Winters had created a "hostile" work environment that Johnston would not be able to work in.

The work environment issue centered around employees at Animal Control.  Winters told AM 1180 Chattooga Radio News that he was unaware of Johnston’s decision to resign from the post until he saw it in yesterday’s edition of the local paper.  Winters said that Johnston had told him that he was taking off to go hunting at the end of the year and that nothing was mentioned about Johnston resigning.

Winters was meeting with Chattooga County Public Works director Lamar Canada yesterday afternoon to go over options for the county regarding animal control.  Under former County Commissioner Mike Dawson’s administration the animal control officer was a contracted position. 

The issue regarding the Chattooga County Sheriffs Department overtime pay has hit a raw nerve with some employees and now, former employees with the Sheriffs Department.

In last week’s issue of The Summerville News, there was a photo of a handwritten sheet showing comp time and overtime pay.  Tammy Owens, who was responsible for payroll at the department told AM 1180 Chattooga Radio News yesterday that many people did not realize that handwritten paper was from October of this year and was simply a guess on her part. 

Owens said that the commissioners office had requested an idea of what would happen if every Sheriffs Department employee turned in their overtime and comp time pay, and that the handwritten paper was a quick guess on her part.  According to Owens it did not reflect the actual overtime and comp time pay for the department.  Owens also stated that she turned in the correct time sheet to the commissioner’s office when it was requested but that was not the time sheet pictured in the paper.

Owens also said that she welcomed the audit that was requested by former Chattooga County Commissioner Mike Dawson into the payroll at the Sheriffs Department.  That audit is ongoing.  Commissioner Jason Winters who takes office today told AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio that he awaiting the results of that audit before any decisions are reached.