MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Municipalities; Finance

By: Senator(s) Kirby

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR AN ELECTION ON THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION IN BOTH THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE TERRITORY PROPOSED TO BE ANNEXED; TO AMEND SECTIONS 21-1-29, 21-1-31, 21-1-33, 21-1-35, 21-1-37 AND 21-1-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION FROM CHANCERY COURT PROCEEDINGS; TO AMEND SECTIONS 21-1-27, 21-1-61, 21-33-1 AND 21-33-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A MUNICIPALITY IS PROHIBITED FROM LEVYING AND COLLECTING TAXES IN NEWLY ANNEXED AREAS UNTIL THOSE SERVICES THAT THE MUNICIPALITY PROPOSED TO RENDER TO THE NEWLY ANNEXED AREAS ARE PROVIDED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 21-1-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-1-27. (1) The limits and boundaries of existing cities, towns and villages shall remain as now established until altered in the manner hereinafter provided. When any municipality shall desire to enlarge or contract the boundaries thereof by adding thereto adjacent unincorporated territory or excluding therefrom any part of the incorporated territory of such municipality, the governing authorities of such municipality shall pass an ordinance defining with certainty the territory proposed to be included in or excluded from the corporate limits, and also defining the entire boundary as changed. In the event the municipality desires to enlarge such boundaries, such ordinance shall in general terms describe the proposed improvements to be made in the annexed territory, the manner and extent of such improvements, and the approximate time within which such improvements are to be made; such ordinance shall also contain a statement of the municipal or public services which such municipality proposes to render in such annexed territory. The ordinance shall also state that the municipality will not levy or collect taxes within the territory proposed to be annexed until those services that the municipality proposed to render in the ordinance are provided. In the event the municipality shall desire to contract its boundaries, such ordinance shall contain a statement of the reasons for such contraction and a statement showing whereby the public convenience and necessity would be served thereby.

(2) If twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors residing in the territory proposed to be annexed by a municipality petition the governing body of the municipality for an election on the question of the proposed annexation, within sixty (60) days after public notice of the adoption of the annexation ordinance, the board of supervisors of the county or counties in which the municipality and the territory proposed to be annexed are located shall hold separate elections in the municipality and in the territory proposed to be annexed on the question of the proposed annexation. The elections shall be held within sixty (60) days after certification of the petition by the municipal clerk. Notice of the elections shall be published in a newspaper having a general circulation in the county or counties in which the municipality and the territory proposed to be annexed are located once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks prior to the election date, and the first publication shall be made not less than twenty-one (21) days prior to the election date. The elections shall be held in the same manner as are other county elections. The annexation shall not be permitted or approved unless both the electors in the municipality and in the territory proposed to be annexed approve the annexation by majority vote of those electors voting in the election. If fewer than a majority of the qualified electors voting in each election vote against the ordinance, the ordinance shall be approved. If a majority of the qualified electors voting in each election vote against the ordinance, the ordinance shall not be approved. If approved in the elections, the ordinance shall become effective ten (10) days after the date of the final determination of the results of the elections or on such later date specified in the ordinance. If no petition for the elections is filed, the ordinance shall become effective sixty (60) days after public notice of the adoption of the ordinance or on such later date specified in the ordinance. If the ordinance is not approved in the elections, the municipality shall not adopt another ordinance proposing the annexation of any of the same territory for a period of five (5) years from the date of the election.

SECTION 2. Section 21-1-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-1-29. When any * * * ordinance proposing to contract the municipal boundaries shall be passed by the municipal authorities, such municipal authorities shall file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which such municipality is located * * *. The petition shall recite the fact of the adoption of such ordinance and shall pray that the * * * contraction of the municipal boundaries * * * shall be ratified, approved and confirmed by the court. There shall be attached to such petition, as exhibits thereto, a certified copy of the ordinance adopted by the municipal authorities and a map or plat of the municipal boundaries as they will exist in event such * * * contraction becomes effective.

SECTION 3. Section 21-1-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-1-31. Upon the filing of such petition and upon application therefor by the petitioner, the chancellor shall fix a date certain, either in termtime or in vacation, when a hearing on said petition will be held, and notice thereof shall be given in the same manner and for the same length of time as is provided in Section 21-1-15 with regard to the creation of municipal corporations, and all parties interested in, affected by, or being aggrieved by said proposed * * * contraction shall have the right to appear at such hearing and present their objection to such proposed * * * contraction. * * *

SECTION 4. Section 21-1-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-1-33. If the chancellor finds from the evidence presented at such hearing that the proposed * * * contraction is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity * * *, the chancellor shall enter a decree approving, ratifying and confirming the proposed * * * contraction, and describing the boundaries of the municipality as altered. In so doing the chancellor shall have the right and the power to modify the proposed * * * contraction by decreasing the territory to be * * * excluded from such municipality * * *. If the chancellor shall find from the evidence that the proposed * * * contraction * * * is unreasonable and is not required by the public convenience and necessity, then he shall enter a decree denying such * * * contraction. In any event, the decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten (10) days from the date thereof or, in event an appeal is taken therefrom, within ten (10) days from the final determination of such appeal. In any proceeding under this section the burden shall be upon the municipal authorities to show that the proposed * * * contraction is reasonable.

SECTION 5. Section 21-1-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-1-35. In the event no objection is made to the petition for the * * * contraction of the municipal boundaries, the municipality shall be taxed with all costs of the proceedings. In the event objection is made, such costs may be taxed in such manner as the chancellor shall determine to be equitable pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. In the event of an appeal from the judgment of the chancellor, the costs incurred in the appeal shall be taxed against the appellant if the judgment be affirmed, and against the appellee if the judgment be reversed.

SECTION 6. Section 21-1-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-1-37. If the municipality or any other interested person who was a party to the proceedings in the chancery court be aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor regarding contraction of the municipal boundaries, then such municipality or other person may prosecute an appeal therefrom within the time and in the manner and with like effect as is provided in Section 21-1-21 in the case of appeals from the decree of the chancellor with regard to the creation of a municipal corporation.

SECTION 7. Section 21-1-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-1-39. (1) Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality shall be * * * contracted as herein provided, the chancery clerk shall, after the expiration of ten (10) days from the date of such decree if no appeal be taken therefrom, forward to the Secretary of State a certified copy of such decree, which shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent record thereof. In the event an appeal be taken from such decree and such decree is affirmed, then the certified copy thereof shall be forwarded to the Secretary of State within ten (10) days after receipt of the mandate from the Supreme Court notifying the clerk of such affirmance.

(2) Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality are enlarged as provided in Section 21-1-27, the governing body of the municipality, after the annexation ordinance has become effective, shall forward to the Secretary of State a certified copy of the ordinance, which shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent record thereof.

SECTION 8. Section 21-1-61, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-1-61. In all cases where a municipality is created * * * under the provisions of this chapter, the property included within the municipal boundaries by such creation * * * shall become liable for and subject to municipal ad valorem taxation on the tax lien date next succeeding the effective date of the decree creating * * * such municipality. In all cases where the limits of an existing municipality are enlarged through annexation of an adjoining territory under the provisions of this chapter, the property included within the municipal boundaries by the enlargement will not become liable for and subject to municipal ad valorem taxation until the services which the municipality proposed to provide in the ordinance are provided.

SECTION 9. Section 21-33-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-33-1. Except as provided in Section 21-1-61, all lands and other taxable property subject to assessment, held by any person within the municipality, or in added territory, on the first day of January, shall be assessed, and ad valorem taxes thereon levied and collected for the ensuing year, excepting motor vehicles as defined by the "Motor Vehicle Ad Valorem Tax Law of 1958," Sections 27-51-1 through 27-51-49, Mississippi Code of 1972.

SECTION 10. Section 21-33-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-33-21. After the services that the municipality proposed to render in the ordinance are provided within the added territory as required under Section 21-1-61, the assessor shall, in the same manner and at the same time as municipal assessments are made, make an assessment of all taxable property in any added territory, and make the same a part of the assessment roll of the municipal separate school district.

SECTION 11. Any action on an ordinance proposing the enlargement of municipal boundaries which is pending before a court on the effective date of this act as a result of any prior law shall be withdrawn, and an election as provided in Section 21-1-27 may be held.

SECTION 12. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi is hereby 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 13. 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.