Bill Text: MS SB2496 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Municipal annexation; require an election be held in the proposed annexation territory.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-03-05 - Died In Committee [SB2496 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-SB2496-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Municipalities; County Affairs
By: Senator(s) McLendon
Senate Bill 2496
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 A MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION OR REMOVAL ORDINANCE; TO PROVIDE THAT THE COSTS OF THE ELECTION SHALL BE PAID BY THE GOVERNING AUTHORITY OF THE MUNICIPALITY THAT IS SEEKING THE ANNEXATION OR REMOVAL OF THE PROPOSED TERRITORY IN THE COUNTY; 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; TO REPEAL SECTION 21-1-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH REQUIRES A MUNICIPAL ENLARGEMENT OR CONTRACTION PETITION TO BE FILED IN CHANCERY COURT; 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 any part of the
incorporated territory of * * * such 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 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 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. The costs of
the election shall be paid by the municipal governing authority seeking the
annexation or removal. Only those persons residing in the territory 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 authority of the municipality appeals the election
decision to the chancery court of the county in which such municipality is
located. The annexation shall not be permitted or approved unless both the
electors in the municipality and in the territory proposed to be annexed
approve the annexation by a fifty percent (50%) plus one (1) vote of those electors
voting in the election. If fifty percent (50%) plus one (1) of the qualified
electors voting in each election vote to approve the ordinance, the ordinance
shall be approved. If approved in the elections, the ordinance shall become
effective ten (10) days after the date of the final determination of the
results of the elections or on a later date that is specified in the ordinance.
(3) [Repealed]
SECTION 2. Section 21-1-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-31. Upon * * *
appeal by the * * * municipal authority 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 authority shall be required to pay all
attorney's fees and all costs involved with the hearing.
SECTION 3. 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 * * * the chancellor 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 4. 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 5. 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 (1) 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 decennial census.
SECTION 6. Section 21-1-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for a municipal enlargement or contraction petition to be filed in chancery court, is repealed.
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.
