Ports of Entry

Miss. Code Ann. tit. 59, ch. 3
in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-1 General municipal powers.

The corporate authorities of any municipality in which there is situated, wholly or partially within its boundaries, a harbor that is a port of entry, shall have the following power and authority: to construct all needful improvements in such harbor, including the deepening of any part of said harbor, and/or extending, enlarging and adding to the same by dredging in any direction including inland; to acquire, construct, repair and improve public wharves and docks for said municipality, in connection with said harbor, and to operate the same under the port commissioners; to own, construct, lease and maintain sheds, warehouses, elevators, compresses, floating dry docks, graving docks, marine railways, tugboats, and other structures and facilities needful for the convenient use of the same in the aid of commerce, and other works of public improvement, including roadways necessary or useful for such port, harbor, and/or dock and wharf purposes, and to control and operate the same under the port commissioners; said sheds, warehouses, elevators, compresses and other works of public improvements, including roadways, to be situated either upon the municipal wharves and docks, and/or upon lands owned, purchased, reclaimed or leased by the municipality and situated within reasonable and practical proximity to such wharves, docks, harbor or port; to set aside or lease portions or all of the said lands, wharves, docks, sheds, warehouses, elevators, compresses, floating dry docks, graving docks, marine railways, tugboats, and other structures and facilities needful for convenient use of the same in the aid of commerce, or any of the said necessary or useful improvements, for special purposes, for a term not exceeding twenty-five years; and to lease same for industrial use for a term not exceeding ninety-nine years to individuals, firms or corporations, public or private, on such terms and conditions and with such safeguards as will best promote and protect the public interest. Any such industrial lease may be executed upon such terms and conditions and for such monetary rental or other consideration as may be found adequate and approved by the city in orders or resolutions authorizing the same. Any covenants and obligations of the lessee to make expenditures in determined amounts and within such time or times, for improvements to be erected on the land by such lessee and to conduct thereon industrial operations in such aggregate payroll amounts and for such period of time or times as may be determined and defined in such lease, and to give preference in employment where practicable to qualified residents of the port of entry and of the county in which said port is situated, shall, if included in said lease, constitute and be deemed sufficient consideration for the execution of any such lease in the absence of a monetary rental or other considerations; any such instrument may contain reasonable provisions giving the lessee the right to remove its or his improvements upon termination of the lease. Such corporate authority shall also have the power and authority to acquire by eminent domain proceedings, purchase, or otherwise, the land, property and rights that may be necessary or useful for the foregoing purposes, and for such purposes the municipality shall have the right to reclaim submerged lands.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-3 Issuance of bonds authorized.

The corporate authorities referred to in Section 59-3-1 are authorized to issue bonds or other obligations of the municipality for any or all of the purposes enumerated and authorized under Section 59-3-1. The conditions of the sale of said bonds shall be fixed by the said corporate authorities.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-5 Details of bonds; tax levy; supplemental powers and authorizations for bond issues.

All bonds authorized by Section 59-3-3 shall be lithographed or engraved, and printed in two (2) or more colors, to prevent counterfeiting, and shall be in sums not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) each, and shall be registered as issued, be numbered in a regular series from one (1) upward, be signed by the mayor and countersigned by the clerk, who shall impress the municipal seal upon each bond as it is issued. Every such bond shall specify on its face the purpose for which it was issued; and the total amount authorized to be issued, and each shall be made payable to bearer. The corporate authorities shall levy annually a special tax to be used exclusively in paying the interest on such bonds and the bonds maturing within one (1) year, and in providing a sinking fund for the redemption of the bonds issued. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, bonds referred to hereinabove may be issued pursuant to the supplemental powers and authorizations conferred by the provisions of the Registered Bond Act, being Sections 31-21-1 through 31-21-7.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-7 Conduct of election on issuance of bonds.

Before issuing bonds authorized by Section 59-3-3 the corporate authorities shall by resolution spread upon their minutes, declare their intention of issuing said bonds, fixing in such resolution the maximum amount thereof, and the purpose for which they are to be issued, and where an election is required shall fix in such resolution a date upon which an election shall be held in said municipality, of which not less than three weeks’ notice shall be given by the clerk by a notice published in a newspaper published in said municipality once a week for three weeks preceding said election at three public places in said municipality. Such election shall be held, as far as practicable, as other elections are held in municipalities.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-9 Qualifications of electors; form and marking of ballots; issuance of bonds without elections.

At such election as is provided for by Section 59-3-7, all qualified electors may vote and the ballots used shall have printed thereon a brief statement of the amount and purpose of the proposed bond issue and the words, “For the bond issue,” and the words, “Against the bond issue,” and the voter shall vote by placing a cross (X) opposite his choice of the proposition. In cities of less than twelve thousand inhabitants, when the amount to be issued is not more than thirty thousand dollars the corporate authorities shall publish the resolution as herein provided declaring their intention to issue said bonds for three weeks, giving the day and date upon which said bonds are to be issued; and if twenty per cent of the qualified electors of the municipality file a written protest against the issuance of said bonds on or before said date, then an election shall be had as herein provided, and if no protest shall be filed said bonds shall be issued without an election.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-11 Issuance of bonds; maturities, interest, and execution of bonds; payment of principal and interest.

Should the election provided for in Sections 59-3-7 and 59-3-9 result in favor of the proposed bond issue, by a majority of those voting in said election voting in favor of the issuance of said bonds, the corporate authorities may issue such bonds, either in whole or in part, within one (1) year after the date of such election or within one (1) year after final favorable determination of any litigation affecting such bonds as they may deem best, and should said bonds be issued by the municipality without an election therefor as provided in the preceding section, then said bonds may be issued as herein provided. All bonds shall mature annually, with all maturities not longer than twenty (20) years, with not less than one-fiftieth (1/50) of the total issue to mature each year during the first five (5) years of the life of said bonds, and not less than one-twenty-fifth (1/25) of the said total issue to mature annually during the succeeding ten-year period of the life of said bonds, and the remainder to be divided into approximately equal payments, one (1) payment to mature during each year for the remaining life of the bonds. Said bonds shall not bear a greater rate of interest than that allowed in Section 75-17-101, Mississippi Code of 1972, payable semiannually, the denomination, form and place of payment to be fixed in the ordinance of the corporate authorities issuing said bonds, and they shall be prepared and signed by the mayor and clerk of said municipality with the seal of the municipality affixed thereto, but the coupons may only bear a facsimile signature of such mayor and clerk. Such bonds, when issued, shall constitute a lien on all the taxable property in such municipality and the corporate authorities shall annually levy a special tax on all such property sufficient to pay the principal and interest on such bonds as the same falls due.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-13 Disposition of proceeds of bonds; penalty for diversion.

The proceeds of any bonds issued under authority of Sections 59-3-1 through 59-3-13, shall be placed in the municipal treasury or depository, if there be one, as a special fund and shall be used for no other purpose than the purpose set forth in the original resolution of the corporate authorities of such municipality, and any officer diverting or assisting to divert any such funds to any other purpose than the purpose originally set forth in said resolution of the corporate authorities of such municipality shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable accordingly, and shall be liable both personally and on his official bond for such diversion.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-31 “Public corporation” defined.

The term “public corporation”, for the purposes of Sections 59-3-31 through 59-3-37, means the State of Mississippi or any political subdivision thereof or any public agency of this state or of any political subdivision thereof or any public board, bureau, commission or authority created by the legislature of the State of Mississippi.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-33 Establishment and operation by public corporation.

Any public corporation of the State of Mississippi, as that term is defined in Section 59-3-31, is hereby authorized to make application for the privilege of establishing, operating and maintaining a foreign-trade zone in accordance with an Act of Congress approved June 18, 1934, entitled “An Act to provide for the establishment, operation, and maintenance of foreign-trade zones in ports of entry of the United States, to expedite and encourage foreign commerce, and for other purposes.”

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-35 Establishment and operation by private corporation.

Any private corporation hereafter organized under the laws of this state for the purpose of establishing, operating and maintaining a foreign-trade zone in accordance with the Act of Congress referred to in Section 59-3-33, is likewise hereby authorized to make application for the privilege of establishing, operating and maintaining a foreign-trade zone in accordance with the said Act of Congress.

Miss. Code Ann. § 59-3-37 Operation and maintenance pursuant to terms of Act of Congress.

Any public or private corporation authorized by Sections 59-3-31 through 59-3-37 to make application for the privilege of establishing, operating and maintaining such foreign-trade zone, whose application is granted pursuant to the terms of the Act of Congress referred to in Section 59-3-33, is hereby authorized to establish such foreign-trade zone and to operate and maintain the same, subject to the conditions and restrictions of said Act of Congress, and any amendments thereto, and under such rules and regulations and for the period of time that may be prescribed by the board established by said Act of Congress to carry out the provisions of said Act of Congress.

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