MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: Fees and Salaries of Public Officers; County Affairs
By: Representative Currie (By Request)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 25-3-25, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE SALARIES OF THE SHERIFFS; TO AMEND SECTIONS 27-43-3 AND SECTION 25-7-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE FEES CHARGED BY SHERIFFS FOR CERTAIN SERVICES; 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) through (9), the salaries of sheriffs of the various counties are fixed as full compensation for their services.
From and after October 1, 1998, 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; however, no sheriff shall be paid less than the salary authorized under this section to be paid the sheriff based upon the population of the county according to the 1980 federal decennial census:
* * *
(a) From and after October 1, 2013, through September 30, 2014:
(i) For counties with a total population of more than one hundred thousand (100,000), a salary of Ninety-two Thousand Dollars ($92,000.00).
(ii) For counties with a total population of more than forty-five thousand (45,000), but not more than one hundred thousand (100,000), a salary of Eighty-three Thousand Dollars ($83,000.00).
(iii) For counties with a total population of more than thirty-four thousand (34,000), but not more than forty-five thousand (45,000), a salary of Seventy-seven Thousand Dollars ($77,000.00).
(iv) For counties with a total population of more than fifteen thousand (15,000), but not more than thirty-four thousand (34,000), a salary of Sixty-eight Thousand Two Hundred and Eight Dollars ($68,208.00).
(v) For counties with a total population of not more than fifteen thousand (15,000) a salary of Sixty-two Thousand Five Hundred Thirty-eight Dollars ($62,538.00).
(b) From and after October 1, 2014, through September 30, 2015:
(i) For counties with a total population of more than one hundred thousand (100,000), a salary of Ninety-four Thousand Dollars ($94,000.00).
(ii) For counties with a total population of more than forty-five thousand (45,000), but not more than one hundred thousand (100,000), a salary of Eighty-eight Thousand Dollars ($88,000.00).
(iii) For counties with a total population of more than thirty-four thousand (34,000), but not more than forty-five thousand (45,000), a salary of Eighty-two Thousand Dollars ($82,000.00).
(iv) For counties with a total population of more than fifteen thousand (15,000), but not more than thirty-four thousand (34,000), a salary of Seventy-six Thousand Four Hundred Sixteen Dollars ($76,416.00).
(v) For counties with a total population of not more than fifteen thousand (15,000), a salary of Sixty-eight Thousand Dollars Six Hundred Seventy-six Dollars ($68,676.00).
(c) From and after October 1, 2015, through September 30, 2016:
(i) For counties with a total population of more than one hundred thousand (100,000), a salary of Ninety-six Thousand Dollars ($96,000.00).
(ii) For counties with a total population of more than forty-five thousand (45,000), but not more than one hundred thousand (100,000), a salary of Ninety Thousand Dollars ($90,000.00).
(iii) For counties with a total population of more than thirty-four thousand (34,000), but not more than forty-five thousand (45,000), a salary of Eighty-five Thousand Dollars ($85,000.00).
(iv) For counties with a total population of more than fifteen thousand (15,000), but not more than thirty-four thousand (34,000), a salary of Eighty Thousand Dollars ($80,000.00).
(v) For counties with a total population of not more than fifteen thousand (15,000), a salary of Seventy-five Thousand Dollars ($75,000).
(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 have been placed 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 persons with an intellectual disability, 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) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Neshoba County shall pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county an amount equal to Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00).
(5) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Tunica County, in its discretion, may pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county an amount equal to Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), payable beginning April 1, 1997.
(6) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Hinds County shall pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount equal to Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county for the following reasons:
(a) Hinds County has the greatest population of any county, two hundred fifty-four thousand four hundred forty-one (254,441) by the 1990 census, being almost one hundred thousand (100,000) more than the next most populous county;
(b) Hinds County is home to the State Capitol and the seat of all state government offices;
(c) Hinds County is the third largest county in geographic area, containing eight hundred seventy-five (875) square miles;
(d) Hinds County is comprised of two (2) judicial districts, each having a courthouse and county office buildings;
(e) There are four (4) resident circuit judges, four (4) resident chancery judges, and three (3) resident county judges in Hinds County, the most of any county, with the sheriff acting as chief executive officer and provider of bailiff services for all;
(f) The main offices for the clerk and most of the judges and magistrates for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi are located within the county;
(g) The state's only urban university, Jackson State University, is located within the county;
(h) The University of Mississippi Medical Center, combining the medical school, dental school, nursing school and hospital, is located within the county;
(i) Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, the state's largest sports arena, is located within the county;
(j) The Mississippi State Fairgrounds, including the Coliseum and Trade Mart, are located within the county;
(k) Hinds County has the largest criminal population in the state, such that the Hinds County Sheriff's Department operates the largest county jail system in the state, housing almost one thousand (1,000) inmates in three (3) separate detention facilities;
(l) The Hinds County Sheriff's Department handles more mental and drug and alcohol commitment cases than any other sheriff's department in the state;
(m) The Mississippi Department of Corrections maintains a restitution center within the county;
(n) The Mississippi Department of Corrections regularly houses as many as one hundred (100) state convicts within the Hinds County jail system; and
(o) The Hinds County Sheriff's Department is regularly asked to provide security services not only at the Fairgrounds and Memorial Stadium, but also for events at the Mississippi Museum of Art and Jackson City Auditorium.
(7) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Wilkinson 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 because the Mississippi Department of Corrections contracts for the private incarceration of state inmates at a private correctional facility within the county.
(8) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Marshall 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 because the Mississippi Department of Corrections contracts for the private incarceration of state inmates at a private correctional facility within the county.
(9) In addition to the salary provided in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Greene 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 South Mississippi Correctional Facility within the county;
(b) In 1996, additional facilities to house another one thousand four hundred sixteen (1,416) male offenders were constructed at the South Mississippi Correctional Facility within the county; and
(c) The patrolling of the state properties located within the county has imposed additional duties on the sheriff justifying additional compensation.
(10) In addition to the salary provided in subsection (1) of this section, the board of supervisors of any 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 amount of the supplement shall be spread on the minutes of the board. The annual supplement authorized in this subsection shall not be in addition to the annual supplements authorized in subsections (2) through (9). Any annual supplement paid before or after the effective date of this act shall be paid in addition to the salaries authorized by subsection (1) of this section.
(11) The salaries provided 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; however, the board of supervisors, by resolution duly adopted and entered on its minutes, may provide that such salaries shall be paid semimonthly on the first and fifteenth day of each month. If a pay date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, salary payments shall be made on the workday immediately preceding the weekend or legal holiday.
(12) Each year, sheriffs shall attend twenty (20) hours of additional continuing education courses in law enforcement which are approved by the Mississippi Board on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training. Such education courses shall be provided by an accredited law enforcement academy or by the Mississippi Sheriffs' Association. The Mississippi Board on Law Enforcement Officers' Standards and Training shall reimburse each county for the expense incurred for the attendance of sheriffs and deputy sheriffs at the required training program required by this subsection.
SECTION 2. Section 27-43-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-43-3. The clerk shall issue the notice to the sheriff of the county of the reputed owner's residence, if he be a resident of the State of Mississippi, and the sheriff shall be required to serve personal notice as summons issued from the courts are served, and make his return to the chancery clerk issuing same. The clerk shall also mail a copy of same to the reputed owner at his usual street address, if same can be ascertained after diligent search and inquiry, or to his post office address if only that can be ascertained, and he shall note such action on the tax sales record. The clerk shall also be required to publish the name and address of the reputed owner of the property and the legal description of such property in a public newspaper of the county in which the land is located, or if no newspaper is published as such, then in a newspaper having a general circulation in such county. Such publication shall be made at least forty-five (45) days prior to the expiration of the redemption period.
If said reputed owner is a nonresident of the State of Mississippi, then the clerk shall mail a copy of said notice thereto in the same manner as hereinabove set out for notice to a resident of the State of Mississippi, except that personal notice served by the sheriff shall not be required.
Notice by mail shall be by registered or certified mail. In the event the notice by mail is returned undelivered and the personal notice as hereinabove required to be served by the sheriff is returned not found, then the clerk shall make further search and inquiry to ascertain the reputed owner's street and post office address. If the reputed owner's street or post office address is ascertained after the additional search and inquiry, the clerk shall again issue notice as hereinabove set out. If personal notice is again issued and it is again returned not found and if notice by mail is again returned undelivered, then the clerk shall file an affidavit to that effect and shall specify therein the acts of search and inquiry made by him in an effort to ascertain the reputed owner's street and post office address and said affidavit shall be retained as a permanent record in the office of the clerk and such action shall be noted on the tax sales record. If the clerk is still unable to ascertain the reputed owner's street or post office address after making search and inquiry for the second time, then it shall not be necessary to issue any additional notice but the clerk shall file an affidavit specifying therein the acts of search and inquiry made by him in an effort to ascertain the reputed owner's street and post office address and said affidavit shall be retained as a permanent record in the office of the clerk and such action shall be noted on the tax sale record.
For examining the records to
ascertain the record owner of the property, the clerk shall be allowed a fee of
Fifty Dollars ($50.00); for issuing the notice the clerk shall be allowed a fee
of Two Dollars ($2.00) and, for mailing same and noting such action on the tax sales
record, a fee of One Dollar ($1.00); and for serving the notice, the sheriff
shall be allowed a fee of * * *Four Dollars ($4.00) Forty Dollars ($40.00). For
issuing a second notice, the clerk shall be allowed a fee of Five Dollars
($5.00) and, for mailing same and noting such action on the tax sales record, a
fee of Two Dollars and Fifty Cents ($2.50), and for serving the second notice,
the sheriff shall be allowed a fee of * * * Forty Dollars ($40.00).
The clerk shall also be allowed the actual cost of publication. Said fees and
cost shall be taxed against the owner of said land if the same is redeemed, and
if not redeemed, then said fees are to be taxed as part of the cost against the
purchaser. The failure of the landowner to actually receive the notice herein
required shall not render the title void, provided the clerk and sheriff have
complied with the duties herein prescribed for them.
Should the clerk inadvertently fail to send notice as prescribed in this section, then such sale shall be void and the clerk shall not be liable to the purchaser or owner upon refund of all purchase money paid.
SECTION 3. Section 25-7-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-7-19. (1) The sheriffs of the various counties of the State of Mississippi shall charge the following fees:
(a) A uniform
total fee in all criminal and civil cases for the service of any process,
summons, warrant, writ or other notice as may be required by law or the court,
each................. $ * * *35.0040.00
(b) In all cases where there is more than one (1) defendant residing at the same household, service on each additional defendant.......................................................... $1.00
(c) After
final judgment has been enrolled, notice of further proceedings involving levy
of execution on judgments, and attachment and garnishment proceedings, shall be
deemed a new suit and the sheriff shall be entitled to the following fee..................
$ * * *40.00
(d) Taking bonds of every kind (for purposes of this fee multiple bonds for criminal charges arising out of a single incident or transaction shall be considered a single
bond).............................................. $ * * *40.00
(e) Attendance
in habeas corpus proceeding in vacation, eminent domain court and commitment
cases.................. $ * * *25.0040.00
(f) On all money made by virtue of any decree, execution or attachment, or other process, the following commissions, to wit:
On the first One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), five percent (5%),
On the second One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), four percent (4%),
On all sums over Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00), three percent (3%).
(g) For all
service of all process of every kind and nature issued from without the county
wherein it is to be served, a fee of $ * * *40.00
In civil cases, all process
sent out of the county, where issued to another county for service, shall be
accompanied by a fee of * * *Thirty‑five Dollars ($35.00) Forty Dollars ($40.00)
to pay the sheriff's fee for his execution of such process unless the clerk or
justice shall endorse on the process that the party at whose instance it issued
had filed an affidavit of inability to pay costs thereof. All fees sent and
unearned, and the whole of it, shall be unearned if the writ be not legally and
properly executed and returned, and shall be remitted by the sheriff with the
writ at his own expense.
(2) The sheriff shall keep a complete account of every fee of every nature, commission or charge collected by him, and shall file an itemized statement thereof monthly, under oath, with the clerk of the board of supervisors of his county who shall preserve same as a part of the records of his office, and he shall make a remittance to the clerk of the board of supervisors of his county on or before the fifteenth of each month for deposit into the general fund of the county of all said fees, commissions and charges collected during the preceding month.
(3) Any sheriff who shall knowingly fail to collect any fee established by law which was in fact collectible by him or having collected the fee shall fail to keep account of such fee or fail to deposit the fee with the clerk of the board of supervisors as provided by subsection (2), or such other person or office entitled thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor in office and, upon conviction therefor, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed double the amount he failed to collect or pay over, or imprisoned for not to exceed six (6) months in the county jail, or be punished by both such fine and imprisonment.
This provision shall in no way lessen the sheriff's civil liability on his bond, but shall be an additional penalty for misfeasance or nonfeasance in office.
SECTION 4. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall 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 5. 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.