MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Conservation and Water Resources

By: Representatives Hudson, Green, Holloway, Moak, Moore (100th), Nettles

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 51-11-9, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE ANY MEMBER COUNTY TO WITHDRAW FROM THE PEARL RIVER BASIN DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT; TO REQUIRE A WITHDRAWING COUNTY TO PAY ITS PORTION OF BONDS, CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS, OTHER INDEBTEDNESS AND LIABILITIES AND BUDGETED EXPENSES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 51-11-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

51-11-9. (1) Within twenty (20) days after the passage of this chapter, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Mississippi Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, the Forestry Commission, and the State Board of Health of the State of Mississippi shall appoint their respective members to the proposed district board of directors as provided in Section 51-11-5. These four appointive members, upon taking the oath as provided, shall meet in the office of the Department of Environmental Quality in Jackson, Mississippi, within ten (10) days, and adopt by a majority vote a resolution setting forth their intentions of creating the district and shall forthwith send a certified copy of said resolution to:

(a) The Governor;

(b) Executive officers of the Department of Environmental Quality, Mississippi Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, Forestry Commission, and State Board of Health; and

(c) The president of the board of supervisors and the chancery clerk of each county which is part of the Pearl River Basin. After receipt of said resolution, each of the four (4) state agencies hereinabove named may adopt its own resolution favorable or unfavorable to the creation of said district; and the respective boards of supervisors may, at their next regular meeting or at any subsequent meeting, likewise adopt a resolution favorable or unfavorable to creating said district. All said resolutions adopted shall be certified by adopting body's secretary, clerk, or executive officer, and certified copies shall be filed with each state agency and political subdivision named in this section.

(2) The board of supervisors of any county which is part of the Pearl River Basin and which desires to become a member of the district shall, upon receipt of the certified resolution to be adopted by the four initial directors, declare said board's intentions by adopting a resolution expressing its desire to have said district created and stating that its county desires to be a member thereof and that said board desires and intends to levy a special ad valorem tax not to exceed one-half (1/2) mill on all taxable property within said county for the use and benefit of the Pearl River Basin Development District, if and in the event that other funds of that county are not available and appropriated to pay for that county's required contribution to said district. The said resolution shall be published once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks in some newspaper published in the county and having a general circulation therein. If within twenty-one (21) days after the date of the first publication of said resolution no petition signed by twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the county is filed with the board of supervisors requesting the calling of an election on the question of the county's participation in the district and the levying of the special ad valorem tax not to exceed one-half (1/2) mill as aforesaid, then the board of supervisors may proceed to have the county made a member of said district and to levy the special ad valorem tax not to exceed one-half (1/2) mill if and when required; but if within twenty-one (21) days after the date of the first publication of said resolution a petition is filed, signed by at least twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of said county, requesting an election on the proposition of said county's becoming a member of the proposed district and the levying of the special ad valorem tax not to exceed one-half (1/2) mill as herein provided, then said election shall be held and conducted as now provided by law for such election. If such an election is held and a majority of those voting therein vote for the proposition, the board shall, by appropriate resolution, bring the county into the district and levy the special ad valorem tax not to exceed one-half (1/2) mill as provided by this chapter, if required. If the majority of those voting in such election shall vote against the proposition, then the county shall not become a member of the district nor levy the one-half (1/2) mill tax, and no further election shall be so conducted until the lapse of two (2) years after the last election.

(3) Whenever an aggregate of six (6) counties shall have become members of the Pearl River Basin Development District in the manner provided in this section, the said district shall be created as an agency of the state and a body politic and corporate with all the powers granted to it by statute; at which time the Governor shall appoint the four (4) directors to be appointed by him.

(4) Any eligible county may become a member of the district subsequent to its creation, in the manner that the original counties became members. New member counties shall have the same power and authority and be entitled to equal consideration of the district's board of directors, not inconsistent with the purpose of this chapter.

(5) Beginning July 1, 2000, the board of supervisors of any county that is included in the Pearl River Basin Development District may elect to withdraw that county from the district by notifying the district in writing before March 15 of the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which the county proposes to withdraw. The withdrawing county shall be responsible for paying its portion of any district bonds, contractual obligations, and any other indebtedness and liabilities of the district that are outstanding on the date of the county's withdrawal from the district and the withdrawing county's portion of budgeted expenditures of the current fiscal year of the district. The withdrawing county's portion of the liabilities, obligations and indebtedness shall be determined through an independent audit conducted by a certified public accountant mutually agreed upon between the withdrawing county and the district. The board of supervisors of the withdrawing county shall provide the sum that is required by this section either by appropriation from any available funds of the county or by levy. The board of supervisors may borrow funds as needed to satisfy the withdrawing county's portion of the liabilities, obligations, indebtedness and expenses of the district as required by this section.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2000.