Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 16, 1999: AGO 1999-0295 (July 16, 1999)

Advisory Opinion Text

Hon. Ralph G. Roy

Lafayette County Tax Assessor/Tax Collector

One Courthouse Square

Oxford, Mississippi 38655

Dear Mr. Roy:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an official opinion of this office and has assigned it to me for a reply. In your letter you state:

I have an insufficient check that was issued to the Lafayette County Tax Collector's Office in August, 1990 for the 1989 real and personal property taxes. The real property was entered in the land sale and later redeemed. The delinquent personal property tax was never collected.

Therefore, is the person who issued the insufficient check able to qualify for countywide office? Also, if elected, will the person be able to be bonded?

Section 19-25-3, Miss. Code Ann . states:

A person shall not be eligible to the office of sheriff who shall, at the time of the election, be a defaulter to the state, or any county or municipality thereof, or the United States.

In a prior opinion, this office opined that the word “defaulter” as used in the statute involved the breach of a public trust or public duty and that the failure to pay ordinary debts would not render a candidate ineligible to hold the office of sheriff. MS AG Op., Aycock (April 10, 1987), attached.

If this office can be of any further assistance to you, please let us know.

Very truly yours,

Mike Moore, Attorney General

Sandra Murphy Shelson Special Assistant Attorney General