MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2023 Regular Session
To: Ways and Means
By: Representative Bounds
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT WHEN A MUNICIPALITY DESIRES TO ANNEX TERRITORY, THE ORDINANCE MUST PROVIDE SPECIFIC BENEFITS AND SERVICES THAT MUST BE PROVIDED TO THE TERRITORY WITHIN THREE YEARS OF THE COURT'S ORDERING AN ANNEXATION DECREE; TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-33, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT IF SUCH BENEFITS AND SERVICES ARE NOT PROVIDED WITHIN THREE YEARS TO AN ANNEXED TERRITORY, THEN THE ANNEXATION SHALL BE ORDERED NULL AND VOID; TO AMEND SECTIONS 21-33-1 AND 27-35-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT A MUNICIPALITY THAT HAS HAD AN ANNEXATION ORDERED NULL AND VOID FROM ASSESSING PROPERTY WITHIN THE FORMERLY ANNEXED AREA FOR TAX PURPOSES; TO AMEND SECTION 27-51-9, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT A MUNICIPAL TAX COLLECTOR FROM COLLECTING AD VALOREM TAXES ON MOTOR VEHICLES LOCATED IN ANNEXED TERRITORY THAT HAS HAD THE ANNEXATION ORDERED NULL AND VOID; TO AMEND SECTION 27-51-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT COUNTIES MAY NOT COLLECT MOTOR VEHICLE AND AD VALOREM TAXES FOR MUNICIPALITIES IN ANNEXED TERRITORY THAT HAS HAD THE ANNEXATION ORDERED NULL AND VOID; TO AMEND SECTION 27-39-307, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT MUNICIPALITIES MAY NOT LEVY AD VALOREM TAXES ON PROPERTY LOCATED WITHIN ANNEXED TERRITORY THAT HAS HAD THE ANNEXATION ORDERED NULL AND VOID; 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. When any municipality * * * desires to enlarge or contract the
boundaries * * *
by adding * * *
to its boundaries adjacent unincorporated territory or excluding * * * from its boundaries 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 * * *
the boundaries, * * *
the ordinance shall * * * describe the * * * additional benefits
and services that must be rendered to the annexed territory within three (3) years
of the ordered annexation date. The additional benefits and services shall not
be benefits and services that are furnished to the proposed annexed territory
by other governmental or private authorities. In addition, the ordinance shall
state with specificity the additional benefits and services that must be named
and measurable. If the municipality desiring to enlarge its boundaries cannot
extend the additional and measurable benefits and services to the proposed
annexed territory within three (3) years, as required in this section, then the
annexation shall be ordered null and void. * * * If the municipality * * * desires to contract its
boundaries, * * *
the ordinance shall also contain a statement of the reasons for * * * the contraction and a statement
showing * * *
how the public convenience and necessity would be served * * * by the contraction.
(2) [Repealed]
(3) [Repealed]
SECTION 2. Section 21-1-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-33. (1) If the chancellor finds from the evidence 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 that shall not exceed three (3) years and that the governing authority of the municipality complied with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, the chancellor shall 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 * * * 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 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.
(4) If additional measurable services and benefits are not provided to the annexed territory within three (3) years of the ordered annexation date, as prescribed in Section 21-1-27, then the annexation shall be ordered null and void by the chancery court.
SECTION 3. Section 21-33-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-33-1. Except for
formerly annexed territory within a municipality that has had its annexation
ordered null and void, as provided in Section 21-1-33(4), 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 * * *.
SECTION 4. Section 27-35-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-35-3. All taxable real property situated in the state acquired or held by any person before January 1 of each year, and all other taxable property so situated or brought into this state at any time prior to March 1 of each year, shall be assessed and taxes thereon paid for the ensuing year with the exception of heavy duty equipment as defined in Section 27-35-1(2). Heavy duty equipment shall be assessed and taxes thereon paid at any time such equipment is acquired or brought into this state for use as construction equipment, and such assessment shall be prorated with respect to the number of months remaining in the year. Such other property shall not be assessed by more than one (1) county, and such county in which said property was located at the earliest taxable date in any year shall have priority in the assessment of such taxes.
Provided, however, that when a municipality is created or the corporate limits thereof extended after January 1 of any year it shall have, prior to July 1 of said year, the full right and power to assess said property and collect taxes for the current year to the same extent as if it had been created or limits extended prior to January 1 of that year. However, such full right and power to assess property and collect taxes shall not apply to formerly annexed territory that has had the annexation ordered null and void, as provided in Section 21-1-33(4).
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the power of the state to define and declare the situs of particular species of property having no fixed situs at some place in this state.
SECTION 5. Section 27-51-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-51-9. (1) For the purposes of this chapter, the fiscal year shall commence on August 1 and shall end on July 31 of each year. The taxable year shall run concurrently with the taxable year in effect in the law pertaining to the payment of the road and bridge privilege license tax on motor vehicles. Except as otherwise provided in Section 27-41-2, ad valorem taxes on motor vehicles shall be collected by the county tax collector for the county and state and by the municipal tax collector for the municipalities. However, the municipal tax collector shall not collect ad valorem taxes on motor vehicles within formerly annexed territory that has had the annexation ordered null and void, as provided in Section 21-1-33(4).
(2) Ad valorem taxes for any ensuing year may be paid during the month as provided in Section 27-19-31, however, and said ad valorem taxes on any motor vehicle must be paid at the same time or prior to the time that the road and bridge privilege license is issued for the subject motor vehicle, unless herein otherwise specifically exempt from such ad valorem taxes. The ad valorem tax on motor vehicles shall be computed on the millage rates in effect at the time such privilege license tax is to be paid.
SECTION 6. Section 27-51-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-51-29. Except for formerly annexed territory within a municipality that has had the annexation ordered null and void, as prescribed in Section 21-33-1(4), any municipality in the state desiring to have its motor vehicle ad valorem taxes collected by the county tax collector at the same time and in the same manner provided for by this chapter for collecting county and state ad valorem taxes on motor vehicles may do so by proceeding as follows:
On or before the 1st day of
May, the municipal board shall enter an order upon its minutes signifying its
desire to have the county tax collector collect its motor vehicle ad valorem
taxes at the same time and in the same manner that he collects the county and state
ad valorem taxes on such motor vehicles for the ensuing fiscal year. A
certified copy of this order shall be furnished the tax collector of the
county, the * * * Department of Revenue, and the administrator of
the road and bridge privilege tax laws. In such case, it shall be mandatory
that such municipal ad valorem taxes be collected by the county tax collector.
The authorization of the tax collector to collect municipal taxes on this class of property shall also include the collection of such taxes on such property located in the municipal separate school district, if any, although such property is located outside of the corporate limits of such municipality.
On or before September fifteenth, the municipal clerk shall certify to the county tax collector a copy of its official tax levy for the then ensuing fiscal year. On this tax levy, the clerk shall not only certify as to the tax levy for each purpose for which it was levied, but he shall also certify as to the total amount of the levy for all municipal purposes, and he shall show separately the total amount of the levy for the municipal separate school district, if the said municipality is a part of a municipal separate school district.
After collecting such
municipal and municipal separate school district ad valorem taxes, the county
tax collector shall retain the fee, as allowed in Section 25-7-21, * * * except in no instance
shall his fee be less than two percent (2%) of such collection for the services
furnished by a county office in collecting municipal separate school district
taxes. Such fees shall be paid into the county general fund. The tax
collector shall, on or before the twentieth day of the following month, remit
to the municipality the remaining portion of such taxes so collected for and
during the preceding month. A report of the total assessed value of the
subject motor vehicle on which such municipal ad valorem taxes were collected for
the preceding month shall be forwarded to the municipality along with the said
remittance.
The records of the county tax collector shall be available at any time during regular office hours for inspection by the municipal authorities or their authorized agents to determine as to whether or not any such taxpayer has been properly assessed, both as to value and as to situs of the subject motor vehicle, and as to whether or not the proper tax has been collected and remitted for the benefit of the municipality and municipal separate school district, in proper cases, if such municipality has officially authorized said tax collector to collect its motor vehicle ad valorem taxes as provided hereinabove.
For similar violations of this chapter, the same penalties shall apply in favor of any municipality, in proper cases, which apply in favor of the counties. The tax collector shall be liable on his official bond to the municipality for any failure on his part to assess, collect and remit the correct amount of taxes due any municipality under the provisions of this chapter on any motor vehicle for which he collects county and state ad valorem taxes.
SECTION 7. Section 27-39-307, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-39-307. Except for formerly annexed territory within a municipality that has had the annexation ordered null and void, as prescribed in Section 21-33-1(4), municipalities may levy ad valorem taxes upon all taxable property within such municipality for general revenue purposes and for general improvements. Further, the governing authorities of any municipality may make additional levies for special purposes as authorized by law. Any such levy which is an increase from the previous fiscal year must be advertised in accordance with Sections 27-39-203 and 27-39-205. In addition to funding municipal general purposes, the municipal general ad valorem tax levy may be used to supplement any municipal ad valorem tax levy for a special purpose authorized by law, excluding levies for schools, without regard to any statutory millage limitation on such special purpose tax levy; however, nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt such tax levies from the limitation on total receipts under Section 27-39-321.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.