MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Fees and Salaries of Public Officers; County Affairs

By: Representatives Green (96th), Taylor, Ellis

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 25-3-25, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE COUNTY POPULATION CATEGORIES ESTABLISHING THE SALARIES OF SHERIFFS AND TO INCREASE THE SALARIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 25-3-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-3-25. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (2) and (3), the salaries of sheriffs of the various counties are * * * fixed as full compensation for their services.

The annual salary for each sheriff shall be based upon the total population of his county according to the latest federal decennial census in the following categories and for the following amounts * * *:

(a) For counties with a total population of more than two hundred thousand (200,000), a salary of Seventy-five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00).

(b) For counties with a total population of more than twenty-five thousand (25,000) and not more than two hundred thousand (200,000), a salary of Sixty-five Thousand Dollars ($65,000.00).

(c) For counties with a total population of twenty-five thousand (25,000) or less * * *, a salary of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00).

(2) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Leflore County * * *, in its discretion, may pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county for the following reasons:

(a) The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates and maintains a restitution center within the county;

(b) The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates and maintains a community work center within the county;

(c) There is a resident circuit court judge in the county whose office is located at the Leflore County Courthouse;

(d) There is a resident chancery court judge in the county whose office is located at the Leflore County Courthouse;

(e) The Magistrate for the Fourth Circuit Court District is located in the county and maintains his office at the Leflore County Courthouse;

(f) The Region VI Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center, which serves a multicounty area, calls upon the sheriff to provide security for out-of-town mental patients, as well as patients from within the county;

(g) The increased activity of the Child Support Division of the Department of Human Services in enforcing in the courts parental obligations has imposed additional duties on the sheriff; and

(h) The dispatchers of the enhanced E-911 system in place in Leflore County are under the direction and control of the sheriff.

(3) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Rankin County * * *, in its discretion, may pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county for the following reasons:

(a) The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates and maintains the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility within the county;

(b) The State Hospital is operated and maintained within the county at Whitfield;

(c) Hudspeth Regional Center, a facility maintained for the care and treatment of the mentally retarded, is located within the county;

(d) The Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy is operated and maintained within the county;

(e) The State Fire Academy is operated and maintained within the county;

(f) The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, ordinarily known as the "Reservoir District," is located within the county;

(g) The Jackson International Airport is located within the county;

(h) The patrolling of the state properties located within the county has imposed additional duties on the sheriff; and

(i) The sheriff, in addition to providing security to the nearly one hundred thousand (100,000) residents of the county, has the duty to investigate, solve and assist in the prosecution of any misdemeanor or felony committed upon any state property located in Rankin County.

(4) The salaries * * * provided for in this section shall be payable monthly on the first day of each calendar month by chancery clerk's warrant drawn on the general fund of the county.

SECTION 2. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi is directed to submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after October 1, 1997, if it is effectuated on or before that date under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended. If it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended, October 1, 1997, this act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.