We should be in good shape if everything holds up as predicted.

It is commonplace for employees to volunteer their personal time to organize such events for public officials.

They were there because they have very good information and they have very good statistics and they are also committed to stemming the tide of illegal immigration.

The county executive believes this legislative agenda will address the multi-tiered level of fraud that is very much at the root of the high tax problem. What he is trying to do is to make one business official accountable for a district's money and to treat budgets as if it were their own. The only remedy now is for communities to vote down a school budget, and that ultimately hurts the children. Seventy percent of our tax bill is made up of school district costs, and those rising costs are crippling those who live here and sending them to more affordable pastures. Those who are elected would now be accountable at the end of their term.

If the county has some form of income tax like the city, then it would be a much more likely option. In the grand scheme of a $2.6-billion budget, and you realize the county only collects $52 million in property taxes, we have to be very careful evaluating an option like this.

This is not a radical group of hard-line, right-wing people making unrealistic demands. It's a reasonable group of officials that are seeking some rational solutions to immigration problems that our cities and our communities face.