House Bill 1303

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-33-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE MUNICIPAL GOVERNING AUTHORITIES TO PROVIDE WRITTEN NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS REGARDING THE MEETING AT WHICH THE GOVERNING AUTHORITIES WILL HEAR OBJECTIONS TO AD VALOREM TAX ASSESSMENTS; TO AMEND SECTION 27-35-83, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE COUNTY BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS TO PROVIDE WRITTEN NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS REGARDING THE OPPORTUNITY TO INSPECT AND EXAMINE ASSESSMENT ROLLS AND TO OBJECT TO AD VALOREM TAX ASSESSMENTS; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 21-33-55, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH RELATES TO THE AUTHORITY OF MUNICIPAL GOVERNING AUTHORITIES TO ASSESS PROPERTY THAT HAS ESCAPED TAXATION IN PREVIOUS YEARS AND TO THE HEARING OF OBJECTIONS TO SUCH ASSESSMENTS, FOR THE PURPOSES OF AMENDMENT; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 27-35-89 AND 27-35-91, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH RELATE TO OBJECTIONS TO COUNTY AD VALOREM TAX ASSESSMENTS, FOR THE PURPOSES OF AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 21-33-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-33-29. Except as otherwise provided in Section 21-33-10, the governing authorities of every municipality shall, at a regular or special meeting to be held in September or October in each year (unless a different time be fixed by order), receive the assessment rolls of real and personal property from the assessor and shall proceed to change, correct, revise, and equalize said assessments in the same manner and with the same powers as is provided for the equalization of assessments by county boards of supervisors. When the equalization has been completed, the governing authorities shall give ten (10) days' notice of the regular or special meeting at which objections to such assessments will be heard. The notice shall be given by written notice mailed to taxpayers and by publication at least one (1) time in a legal newspaper, if there be one published in the municipality, and if no such newspaper be published in the municipality, the notice shall be given by posting written notices thereof in five (5) or more public places in the municipality.

SECTION 2. Section 27-35-83, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

27-35-83. The board of supervisors shall immediately at the July meeting proceed to equalize such rolls and shall complete such equalization at least ten (10) days before the August meeting, and shall immediately by written notice mailed to taxpayers and by newspaper publication notify the public that such rolls so equalized are ready for inspection and examination. In counties having two (2) judicial districts, the board shall by order designate on what days during August it will begin in each of the two (2) districts upon its hearing of objections, and these days shall be named in the said notice, and the board shall be authorized to hold its sessions in the two (2) districts respectively as designated in the order aforesaid. The foregoing provision with reference to counties with two (2) judicial districts shall apply to any subsequent meetings whereof notice to taxpayers is necessary to be given.

SECTION 3. Section 21-33-55, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

21-33-55. The governing authorities of all municipalities in this state, including private charter municipalities, are hereby authorized and empowered to cause all taxable property, whether real or personal, within the corporate limits, and liable to taxation, which from any cause has escaped taxation within the past seven (7) years, to be assessed for taxes for each year in which such property has escaped taxation. In all cases of the assessment of property under this section, the governing authorities of any municipality ordering such assessment shall fix a day for the hearing of objections to such assessment, and shall cause the municipal clerk to give to the property owner ten (10) days' written notice, by mail, if the post office address of the owner be known; if the post office address of the owner be unknown, notice shall be given by posting notice for at least ten (10) days in five (5) public places in the municipality, of the time and place for the hearing of objections to such assessment.

In the event it be discovered that the property of any railroad, or other public service corporation required by law to be assessed by the state railroad assessors, has escaped assessment and taxation for any reason, the assessor, upon his own motion, or upon request of the governing authorities of the municipality, shall notify the state railroad assessors of such fact, and state the name of the owner and the kind of property escaping assessment and taxation. The state railroad assessors shall proceed to assess such property as provided by Section 27-35-325, Mississippi Code of 1972.

No leasehold interest in any property, real or personal, belonging to the State of Mississippi, counties, districts, municipalities or any political subdivisions, shall be subjected to ad valorem taxation for any past year on the basis of it having been omitted from the ad valorem tax rolls.

SECTION 4. Section 27-35-89, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

27-35-89. (1) The board of supervisors of each county shall hold a meeting at the courthouse, or at the chancery clerk's office in counties where the chancery clerk's office is in a building separate from the courthouse, on the first Monday of August, to hear objections to the assessment. The board shall examine the assessment rolls, and hear and determine all exceptions thereto, and shall sit from day to day until the same shall have been disposed of, and all proper corrections made, or may take objections under advisement as provided in subsection (2) of this section. The board shall equalize the assessment and may increase or diminish the valuation of any property, so that property of the same value shall be assessed for an equal sum. Where an individual assessment has been increased immediate notice in writing shall be sent by mail to the person whose assessment is increased by the clerk of the board of supervisors. At the said meeting the board shall have the power to change erroneous assessments or to add omitted property but any person affected by such action shall have notice as next above provided. If the board adjourn before considering the objections filed, such objections shall be heard at the next regular meeting of the board.

(2) The board of supervisors may take an objection under advisement to allow the taxpayer or his designee, the tax assessor or the board to compile information relating to the objection; however, the board shall enter an order on the objection on or before the first Monday of September.

SECTION 5. Section 27-35-91, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

27-35-91. It shall be the duty of the assessor of Harrison County to file with the chancery clerk of said county two (2) copies each of the land and personal rolls of said county, filing one (1) of each with the said clerk at his office at Gulfport and one (1) of each at his office at Biloxi, and the board of supervisors, in passing on said assessment rolls, shall at the proper meeting held by them at Biloxi, approve such of said rolls as shall relate to and embrace property included and being in the second district, and at the proper meeting held in Gulfport shall approve such of said rolls as shall relate to and embrace property included in the first district, and in all instances acting upon said rolls, insofar as the territory embraced in each of the respective districts is concerned, in the same manner as though the action or approval of the assessment rolls related to the approval thereof of different counties. The assessor and clerk shall provide suitable copies of said entire rolls, as finally approved, in all instances where required by law, as though said rolls related to different counties; provided, that only one (1) copy of each shall be required to be filed with any state office, in which said roll shall be required to be filed under the law now or hereafter existing, insofar as the same shall relate to each of said districts.

At the time of hearing objections to the assessment rolls each year, the board shall adjourn, for the purpose of hearing objections to the assessment roll, from the district in which it may be regularly in session to the other district, and remain in session not longer than the time provided by law for a separate county and so as to give a hearing on any objections to the taxpayers of the respective districts in the particular district of the taxpayer insofar as may be practical under the circumstances.

SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.