MCA Chapter 11

MCA Chapter 11
in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-3 Definition of clerk.

The word “clerk,” as used in this chapter, shall mean the chancery clerk acting in his official capacity as the clerk of the board of supervisors and as the county auditor.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-5 Fiscal year.

Each county of the State of Mississippi shall operate on a fiscal year basis, beginning October first and ending September thirtieth of each year.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-7 Preparation and publication of annual budget.

[With regard to any county which is required to operate on a countywide system of road administration as described in Section 19-2-3, this section shall read as follows:] The county administrator of each county of the State of Mississippi shall prepare and submit to the board of supervisors at its August meeting of each year a complete budget of revenues, expenses and a working cash balance estimated for the next fiscal year, which shall be based on the aggregate funds estimated to be available for the ensuing fiscal year for each fund, from which such estimated expenses will be paid, exclusive of school maintenance funds, which shall be shown separately and exclusive of the budget of the sheriff’s department which shall be prepared by the sheriff. Such statement of revenues shall show every source of revenue along with the amount derived from each source. The budget, including the sheriff’s budget, containing such statement of revenues and expenses shall be published at least one (1) time during August or September but not later than September 30 of the year in a newspaper published in the county, or if no newspaper is published therein, then in a newspaper having a general circulation therein. The county administrator shall not prepare a budget that reduces the county budget by more than twenty percent (20%) in the last year of the members’ term of office if a majority of the members of the board are not reelected.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-9 Form of budget.

The budget of expenses, revenues and working cash balance shall be prepared in such form as may be necessary, upon forms to be prescribed by the State Auditor, as the head of the State Department of Audit, or by the director thereof appointed by the State Auditor. Such budget of expenses shall show in detail all estimates of the expenditures to be made out of the general county fund and its auxiliary funds, all estimates of expenditures to be made out of the road and bridge maintenance and construction funds, and all amounts to be paid out of the several bond and interest sinking funds for the bonded debt service in the next fiscal year.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-11 Contents and approval of final budget.

The budget as finally determined, in addition to setting out separately each general item of expenditure for which appropriations are to be made and the fund out of which the same is to be paid, shall set out the total amount to be expended from each fund, the anticipated working cash balance in the fund at the close of the present fiscal year, the estimated amount, if any, which shall accrue to the fund from sources other than taxation for the new fiscal year, and the amount necessary to be raised for each fund by tax levy during such fiscal year, and the working cash balance which the board determines necessary for the next fiscal year. The board of supervisors, not later than September 15th, shall then, by resolution, approve and adopt the budget as finally determined, and enter the same at length and in detail in its official minutes, and in like manner the said board shall enter the budget of estimated expenses for the county department of education which shall have been prepared and presented to the board by the county superintendent of education as provided by law. The board of supervisors shall not adopt a budget that reduces the county budget by more than twenty percent (20%) in the last year of the members’ term of office if a majority of the members of the board are not reelected.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-13 Keeping of uniform system of accounts.

The clerk of the board of supervisors of each county shall open and keep a regular set of books, as prescribed by the state auditor, as the head of the state department of audit, or by the director thereof appointed by the state auditor. Such set of books, known as the “uniform system of accounts for the counties,” shall always be subject to inspection within office hours by any citizen desiring to inspect same. Said books shall contain accounts, under headings, corresponding with the several headings of the budget, so that the expenditures under each head may at once be known. It shall be the duty of said clerk to enter all receipts and expenditures in the said books or system of accounts monthly, post and balance the ledgers thereof at the end of each month so that all information needed for a comprehensive review of operations of the county under budgetary limitations may be readily obtainable. Such books shall be paid for out of the general county fund, upon the order of the board of supervisors.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-15 Expenditure of funds.

The board of supervisors of each and every county of the state shall at all times keep within the sum named in its said budget and within the annual revenue, always seeking to lessen expenditure instead of exceeding revenue and budget estimates. The amount appropriated and authorized to be expended for any item contained in such budget must not exceed the amount actually estimated for such item, and the total amount appropriated and authorized to be expended from any fund, except for capital outlay, election expenses and payment of emergency warrants and interest thereon, or for extraordinary court expenses, shall not exceed the total amount actually estimated for all purposes. The total expenditures authorized to be made from any fund shall exclude reserves added thereto, and the total shall not, in any event, exceed the aggregate of the cash balance, excluding reserves, in such funds at the close of the fiscal year immediately preceding, plus the amount of estimated revenues to accrue to such fund, as determined and fixed in the manner herein provided, and the amount which may be raised for such fund by a lawful tax levy during the current fiscal year.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-17 Budget estimates not to be exceeded; liability therefor; exemption for unfunded employee retirement or pension funds.

No expenditures shall be made, or liabilities incurred, or warrants issued, in excess of the budget estimates as finally determined by the board of supervisors, or as thereafter revised under the provisions of this chapter. The board of supervisors shall not approve any claim, and the clerk shall not issue any warrant for any expenditures in excess of the budget estimates thus made and approved by the board of supervisors, or as thereafter revised under the provisions of this chapter, except upon the order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or for an emergency as hereinafter provided. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall make the members of the board of supervisors voting for same, and the surety upon their official bonds, liable for the full amount of the claim allowed, the contract entered into, or the public work provided for, and the State Auditor, as the head of the State Department of Audit, shall be authorized to sue for the recovery of the sum or sums so voted. Provided, however, that the term “budget estimates” for purposes of personal liability of the members of the board of supervisors under this section shall not include any unfunded liability for county employee retirement or pension funds. Nothing in this section shall diminish any responsibility of the members of the board of supervisors to fund any employee retirement or pension plans, or any liability as a result of any failure to fund such plans as otherwise required by law.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-19 Revision of county budget.

When it shall appear to the board of supervisors that collection of anticipated revenues from taxation and/or other sources for any fund or funds of any county will be more than the amounts estimated, or when it appears that such revenues will be less than estimated, the board of supervisors may revise the budget of expenses at any regular meeting during the fiscal year by increasing or decreasing the items of said budget in proportion to the increase or decrease in the anticipated revenue collections and/or other sources of funds. When it shall appear to the board of supervisors that some item of the budget is in excess of the requirements of said item, and that the amount budgeted to such item will not be needed during the fiscal year, the board may, at any regular meeting, transfer funds to and from items within the budget when and where needed, but no such transfer shall be made from fund to fund, or from item to item, which will result in the expenditure of any money for a purpose different from that for which the tax was levied. However, revisions as herein authorized shall not be deemed to permit any expenditures in excess of the various items of the budget as then approved, and any expenditures made in excess of the budget as then approved shall be invalid, and subsequent revision shall not validate such expenditures. The revisions made in the budget, from time to time, shall be spread upon the official minutes of the board at the meeting at which any such revision is made. The reductions authorized under this section shall not exceed the reduction restrictions under Section 19-11-11.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-21 Emergency expenditures.

Upon the happening of any emergency caused by fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot or insurrection, or caused by an inherent defect due to defective construction, or when the immediate preservation of order or of public health is necessary, or when the restoration of a condition of usefulness of any public building or other property which has been destroyed by accident or otherwise, is necessary, or when mandatory expenditures required by law must be met, the board of supervisors may, upon adoption, by unanimous vote of all members present at any meeting, of a resolution stating the facts constituting the emergency and entering the same on its minutes, make the expenditures, borrow money or incur the liabilities necessary to meet such emergency, without further notice or hearing, and may revise the budget accordingly. The clerk then shall be authorized to issue emergency warrants drawn against the special fund or funds properly chargeable with such expenditures, and upon presentation of such warrants the county depository shall pay same with any money in such fund or funds available for such purpose. If at any time there shall not be sufficient money available in such fund or funds, from usual sources or from grants, transfers or donations, to pay such warrants, the board of supervisors of the county is hereby authorized to borrow the required amount, not to exceed the authorized emergency expenditure, and shall execute the notes of the county for the amount so borrowed, and the board of supervisors, in such event shall be authorized to levy a special tax, not to exceed two mills on the dollar, for the repayment of such notes, which shall be made to mature not later than the 15th day of March next succeeding the date of issuance.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-23 Monthly report of clerk.

At the regular meeting in each month, the clerk shall submit to the board of supervisors of the county a report showing the expenditures and liabilities incurred against each separate budget item during the preceding calendar month, and like information for the whole of the fiscal year to the first day of the month in which such report is made, together with the unexpended balance of each budget item and the unencumbered balance in each fund. He shall also set forth the receipts from property tax and, in detail, the receipts from other taxes and all other sources by each fund for the same period.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-25 When appropriations made under budget lapse.

All appropriations of funds made under the provisions of a budget for a fiscal year shall lapse at the end of such year, and all books shall close September 30. All disbursements and appropriations made on and after October 1, other than appropriations for incompleted improvements in process of construction, shall be charged against the current budget, and all funds actually received on and after October 1 shall be credited to the current budget. However, when the delay in presentation of any such claim is caused by a wilful act of a member of the board of supervisors or other official of the county, such supervisor or other official shall be liable on his official bond, to the claimant thereof, for the amount of same. In the administration of the Homestead Exemption Law of 1946, however, the time shall be extended to October 20 following the close of the fiscal year, for both the payment of claims and the accounting of revenue, belonging to and/or accruing to the immediately prior fiscal year.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-11-27 Certain expenditures for last year of term limited.

No board of supervisors of any county shall expend from, or contract an obligation against, the budget estimates for road and bridge construction, maintenance and equipment, made and published by it during the last year of the term of office of such board, between the first day of October and the first day of the following January, a sum exceeding one-fourth (1/4) of such item of the budget made and published by it, except in cases of emergency. The clerk of any county is prohibited from issuing any warrant contrary to the provisions of this section. No board of supervisors nor any member thereof shall buy any machinery or equipment in the last six (6) months of their or his term unless or until he has been elected at the general election of that year. The provisions of this section shall not apply to (i) until January 1, 2020, projects of any type that receive monies from the Local System Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program, the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund, the 2018 Transportation and Infrastructure Improvement Fund or the Gulf Coast Restoration Fund and (ii) to expenditures during calendar year 2019 on deficient bridges in the State Aid Road System or the Local System Road Program that have a sufficiency rating of less than fifty (50) or to a contract, lease or lease-purchase contract executed pursuant to the bidding requirements in Section 31-7-13 and approved by a unanimous vote of the board. Such unanimous vote shall include a statement indicating the board’s proclamation that the award of the contract is essential to the efficiency and economy of the operation of the county government.