MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2024 Regular Session

To: County Affairs; Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency

By: Representative Horne

House Bill 814

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THAT AN ELECTION BE HELD IN ANY PART OF A COUNTY WHICH IS THE SUBJECT OF AN ANNEXATION OR REMOVAL ORDINANCE; TO REPEAL SECTION 21-1-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH REQUIRES AN ENLARGEMENT OR CONTRACTION PETITION TO BE FILED IN CHANCERY COURT; TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES TO PAY ATTORNEY'S FEES AND ALL COSTS OF COURT WHEN APPEALING THE ELECTION RESULTS; TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-33, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE CHANCELLOR MAY CONSIDER ELECTION RESULTS AS EVIDENCE; TO AMEND SECTIONS 21-1-35 AND 21-1-43, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING SECTIONS; 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 in this chapter.  When any municipality * * *shall desires to enlarge or contract * * *the its boundaries * * *thereof by adding * * *thereto to its boundaries, adjacent unincorporated territory, or excluding * * *therefrom from its boundaries any part of the incorporated territory of * * *such the municipality, the governing authorities of * * *such 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.  * * * In the event If the municipality desires to enlarge * * *such its boundaries, * * *such the ordinance shall in general terms describe the proposed improvements to be made in the annexed territory, the manner and extent of * * *such the 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 that the municipality proposes to render in * * *such the annexed territory.  * * *In the event If the municipality * * *shall desires to contract its boundaries, * * *such the ordinance shall contain a statement of the reasons for * * *such the contraction and a statement showing * * *whereby how the public convenience and necessity would be served thereby.

     (2)  After the passage of the ordinance, the board of supervisors of the county or counties in which the territory proposed to be annexed or removed is located shall hold an election in the territory on the question of the proposed annexation or removal.  Only those persons residing in the area to be annexed or removed shall be allowed to vote in the election. The election shall be held within sixty (60) days after passage of the ordinance.  Notice of the election shall be published in a newspaper having a general circulation in the territory proposed to be annexed or removed once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks before the election date, and the first publication shall be made not less than twenty-one (21) days before the election date.  The election shall be held in the same manner as are other county elections.  The results of the election shall be certified by the election commissioners of the county and shall be considered as the final decision on the issue of annexation or removal unless the governing authorities of such municipality appeal the election decision to the chancery court of the county in which such municipality is located.

     (2)  [Repealed]

     (3)  [Repealed]

     SECTION 2.  Section 21-1-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for an enlargement or contraction petition to be filed in chancery court, is repealed.

     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 appeal by the municipal authorities, to the chancery court, the chancellor shall fix a date certain, either in term time or in vacation, when a hearing on * * * said petition the election results defeating the proposed enlargement or contraction 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 the proposed enlargement or contraction shall have the right to appear at such hearing and present their objection to such proposed enlargement or contraction.  * * * However, in all cases of the enlargement of municipalities where any of the territory proposed to be incorporated is located within three (3) miles of another existing municipality, then such other existing municipality shall be made a party defendant to said petition and shall be served with process in the manner provided by law, which process shall be served at least thirty (30) days prior to the date set for the hearing. The municipal authorities shall be required to pay all attorney's fees and all costs involved with the hearing.

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

     21-1-33.  (1)  If the chancellor finds from the evidence including, but not limited to, the results of any election held under Section 21-1-27, presented at the hearing that the proposed enlargement or contraction is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity and, in the event of an enlargement of a municipality, that reasonable public and municipal services will be rendered in the annexed territory within a reasonable time and that the governing authority of the municipality complied with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, the chancellor * * *shall may enter a decree approving, ratifying and confirming the proposed enlargement or 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 enlargement or contraction by decreasing the territory to be included in or excluded from the municipality, as the case may be.

     (2)  If the chancellor * * *shall finds from the evidence that the proposed enlargement or contraction, as the case may be, is unreasonable and is not required by the public convenience and necessity, or in the event of an enlargement of a municipality, that the governing authority of the municipality failed to comply with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, then he or she shall enter a decree denying the enlargement or contraction.

     (3)  In any event, the decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten (10) days from the date thereof or, in the event an appeal is taken therefrom, within ten (10) days from the final determination of the appeal. In any proceeding under this section the burden shall be upon the municipal authorities to show that the proposed enlargement or 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 enlargement or 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 21-1-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     21-1-43.  Any two (2) or more cities or towns being adjacent or situated sufficiently near to each other may combine into and become one municipality in the same manner as is provided for the enlargement or contraction of municipal boundaries.  It shall be necessary for the governing authorities of each municipality to adopt the ordinance with regard  * * * thereto to the consolidation and an election held in the same manner as is provided in Section 21-1-27 with regard to the enlargement or contraction of municipal boundaries.  * * * It shall also be necessary that such municipal authorities shall file a joint petition in the proper chancery court, and thereafter proceedings shall be had in the same manner as is provided in cases of enlargement or contraction of municipal boundaries. The ordinance * * * and the petition filed with the chancery court shall state the name that shall be given to the municipality to be formed.  In the event of the consolidation of two (2) or more municipalities into one (1) as * * *  herein provided in this section, the decree of the chancellor shall correctly classify the municipality so formed in accordance with the facts, based upon the total population of all of such municipalities as shown by the latest available federal census.  When * * * said the consolidation shall have become final and operative, all of * * * such the municipalities shall be merged into one (1) under the name set forth in the ordinances adopted by the governing authorities of the municipalities so consolidated.  The governing authorities of all the municipalities so consolidated shall become members of the governing authority of the municipality so formed until the next regular election, when the proper number of members of the governing authority shall be elected as provided by law, and the mayor or chief executive officer of the largest municipality, according to population, shall become the mayor or chief executive officer of the municipality so formed.  The assessments and levies for ad valorem taxation in force at the time of the consolidation of * * *  such the municipalities for the territory of each municipality shall be the assessment and levy upon which taxes shall be collected for the then current fiscal year, but in all other respects the existing laws and ordinances of the largest municipality, according to population, shall be operative throughout the enlarged limits.

     Nothing in this section shall authorize the combination of two (2) or more villages unless * * * such those villages shall have a combined population of five hundred (500) or more, according to the latest available federal census.

     SECTION 7.  Any action taken on an ordinance proposing the enlargement or contraction of municipal boundaries that 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 8.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.