He commented that a similar program worked last year when offered in October, November and December.  The plan, of course, must first be approved by Commissioner's Court. Last year, a program was established which resulted in a positive way where taxpayers were given a 3% discount in October, a 3% discount in November and a 1% discount in December in order to give citizen's the freedom to save while doing their civic duty of providing for the common cause of assisting our County to run in a more efficient manner. In contrast, January holds no discount and in February, late fees apply to the tune of 7%. The justification behind such a system is to attempt to collect as many of the County's taxes as early as possible as well as making an effort to get them all in by January in order to know if they can count on these funds or not for much needed projects, expenditures, etc. as the collection of taxes is a major aspect of the County's economic status especially in this day and age of the financial crisis that they are facing at this time. As far as information gathered up to now, most of the County's taxes have been collected, however the Tax Assessor's Office is preparing to send next year's statements as the next fiscal year begins in October. Both the City and the EPISD are also preparing statements for the coming fiscal year.