House Bill 1059

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 19-5-105, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF TIMES THAT THE COUNTY IS AUTHORIZED TO CLEAN PROPERTY DETERMINED BY THE COUNTY TO BE A MENACE; TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF EXPENSES ALLOWED FOR SUCH CLEANING; TO AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY TO PLACE A LIEN ON EACH PARCEL OF LAND OWNED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, BY THE OWNER OF THE MENACED PROPERTY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 19-5-105, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

19-5-105. The board of supervisors of any county is hereby authorized and empowered on its own motion, or upon the receipt of a petition requesting the board of supervisors to so act signed by a majority of the residents eighteen (18) years of age or older, residing upon any street or alley, or the reasonable proximity thereto, within seven hundred fifty (750) feet of the precise location of the alleged menace situated on any parcel of land which is located in a populated area or in a housing subdivision and alleged to be in need of cleaning, to give notice to the property owner by United States registered mail, return receipt requested, receipted by addressee only, three (3) weeks before the date of a hearing, or if the property owner be unknown or his address unknown, then by three (3) weeks' notice in a newspaper having a general circulation in the county, of a hearing to determine whether or not any parcel of land is in such a state of uncleanliness as to be a menace to the public health and safety of the community. If at such hearing the board of supervisors shall in its resolution adjudicate such a parcel of land in its then condition to be a menace to the public health and safety of the community, the board of supervisors may, if the owner not do so himself, proceed to have the land cleaned by cutting weeds, filling cisterns, and removing rubbish, dilapidated fences, outside toilets, dilapidated buildings and other debris, and draining cesspools and standing water therefrom. Thereafter, the board of supervisors may at its next regular meeting by resolution adjudicate the actual cost of cleaning the said lot and the cost shall become an assessment against the same. However, the action herein authorized shall not be undertaken against any one (1) parcel of land more than four (4) times in any one (1) calendar year, and the expense of cleaning of said lot shall not exceed the amount of Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) in any one (1) calendar year.

The assessment above provided for shall be a lien against each parcel of property owned, in whole or in part, by the owner of the land that is cleaned under the provisions of this section, and such liens may be enrolled in the office of the circuit clerk of the county as other judgments are enrolled, and the tax collector of the county shall, upon order of the board of supervisors, proceed to sell such lands to satisfy the lien as now provided by law for the sale of lands for delinquent taxes. Furthermore, the property owner whose land or lands are sold pursuant to this section shall have the same right of redemption as now provided by law for the sale of lands for delinquent taxes. All decisions rendered under the provisions of this section may be appealed in the same manner as other appeals from county boards are taken.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2012.