Bill Text: MS HB1483 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Municipal annexation/deannexation; require election be held on the question of in the subject territory to be annexed/deannexed.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2022-02-01 - Died In Committee [HB1483 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2022-HB1483-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Municipalities
By: Representative Horne
House Bill 1483
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 * * * provided in this chapter.
When any municipality * * *
desires to enlarge or contract * * * its 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 * * *
its boundaries, * * *
the ordinance shall in general terms describe the proposed improvements
to be made in the annexed territory, the manner and extent of * * * 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 * * * that the municipality
proposes to render in * * *
the annexed territory. * * * If the municipality * * * desires to contract its
boundaries, * * *
the ordinance shall contain a statement of the reasons for * * * the contraction and a statement
showing * * *
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 * * * 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 * * * 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 * * *
the proposed enlargement or contraction shall have the right to appear
at such hearing and present their objection to such proposed enlargement or
contraction. * * *
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 * * *
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 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 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 * * * 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. * * * The ordinance * * * 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 * * *
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 * * *
the consolidation shall have become final and operative, all of * * *
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 * * * 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 * * *
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, 2022.
