MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Municipalities
By: Representative Horne
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 21-1-27, 21-1-29, 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 AD VALOREM TAXES IN NEWLY ANNEXED AREAS UNTIL THE MUNICIPALITY HAS PROVIDED THE SERVICES TO THE ANNEXED AREA WHICH ARE LISTED IN THE ORDINANCE THAT THE MUNICIPALITY IS REQUIRED TO PASS; 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 * * * provided in this chapter.
When any municipality * * *
desires to enlarge or contract * * * its boundaries * * * by adding * * * adjacent unincorporated territory or
excluding * * *
any part of the incorporated territory of * * * the municipality, the governing
authorities of * * *
the 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. * * * If the municipality desires
to enlarge * * *
its boundaries, * * *
the 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 * * *.
* * * The
ordinance shall also contain a statement of the municipal or public services
which * * * the
municipality proposes to render in such annexed territory. The ordinance
shall also state that the municipality may not levy or collect municipal ad valorem
taxes within the territory proposed to be annexed until those services that the
municipality proposes to render the ordinance are provided. * * * If the municipality * * * desires to contract its
boundaries, * * *
the ordinance shall contain a statement of the reasons for * * * the contraction and a statement
showing * * * that
the public convenience and necessity would be served thereby.
(2) (a) When any municipality having a population in excess of forty thousand (40,000) wherein is located a state-supported university and in which U.S. Highways 49 and 11 intersect and which has boundaries that lie within two (2) counties desires to enlarge its boundaries by adding adjacent unincorporated territory after January 1, 2016, the governing authorities of the municipality shall pass, in addition to the requirements provided in subsection (1), an ordinance:
(i) Certifying that more than fifty percent (50%) of the people who reside in the unincorporated area of the census block within the territory proposed to be annexed shall be included in the proposed annexation; or
(ii) Certifying
that upon approval of the annexation, the municipality shall cede any authority
to provide zoning and subdivision regulation to the board of supervisors of the
county in which the territory is located, if fifty percent (50%) or fewer
people who reside in the unincorporated area of the census block within such
territory is included in the proposed annexation. If such authority is ceded,
as provided under this subparagraph, then the governing authorities of the
municipality * * *
are authorized to advise the board of supervisors of the county
concerning such regulation; however, the ultimate authority regarding the
regulation shall lie with the board of supervisors of the county.
This subsection (2) shall stand repealed from and after July 1, 2019.
(3) For the purposes of this section, "census block" refers to certain geographic areas as designated by the latest federal decennial census preceding any annexation under this section.
This subsection (3) shall stand repealed from and after July 1, 2019.
SECTION 2. Section 21-1-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-29. When any such
ordinance * * * described
in Section 21-1-27 is passed by the municipal authorities, * * * the municipal authorities shall
file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which * * *
the municipality is
located; however, when a municipality wishes to annex or extend its boundaries
across and into an adjoining county * * *, the municipal authorities shall
file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which such territory is
located. The petition shall * * * (a) recite the
fact of the adoption of * * * suchthe ordinance * * *, (b) pray that the enlargement or contraction
of the municipal boundaries, as the case may be, shall be ratified, approved
and confirmed by the court * * * and (c) state that the municipality may
not levy or collect municipal ad valorem taxes within the territory proposed to
be annexed until those services that the municipality proposed to render in the
ordinance are provided by the municipality. There shall be attached to * * *
the petition, as
exhibits * * *,
a certified copy of the ordinance adopted by the municipal authorities and a
map or plat of the municipal boundaries as they will exist * * *
if such enlargement
or contraction becomes effective.
SECTION 3. Section 21-1-61, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-61. In all cases where
a municipality is created or the limits of an existing municipality are
enlarged under the provisions of this chapter, the property included within the
municipal boundaries by * * * suchthe 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 * * * the 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
annexed territory will not become liable for or subject to municipal ad valorem
taxation until the services that the municipality proposed in the ordinance
described in Section 21-1-27 are rendered by the municipality.
SECTION 4. 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 5. Section 21-33-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-33-21. After the
services that the municipality proposed in the ordinance described in Section
21-1-27 are rendered by the municipality within the added territory as required
under Section 21-1-61, the assessor * * *, in the same manner and at the same time
as municipal assessments are made, shall make an
assessment of all taxable property in any added territory, and shall
make the same a part of the assessment roll of the municipal separate
school district.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.