Mississippi Advisory Opinions February 27, 1986: 19860227 (February 27, 1986)

Advisory Opinion Text

Dr. R. T. Hollingsworth, M.D.

Mr. Robert Patton

Mr. Jim Davis

Aldermen

City of Shelby

c / o Honorable Alfred Levingston

Post Office Box 728

Cleveland, Mississippi 38732 Gentlemen:

Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

Your letter states:

“We the undersigned members of the Board of Aldermen of the City of Shelby, Mississippi wish to have certain alleged improprieties in the City government operations here in Shelby investigated. We propose to hire an independent CPA to do this for the Board of Aldermen.

We understand that under the Home Rule law this is legal, and respectfully request that you give us an opinion on this matter.”

Mississippi Code Annotated § 21-17-5 (Supp. 1985) provides:

“The governing authorities of every municipality of this state shall have the care, management and control of the municipal affairs and its property and finances, and shall have the power to adopt any orders, resolutions or ordinances with respect to such municipal affairs, property and finances for which no provision has been made by general law and which are not inconsistent with the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, the Mississippi Code of 1972, or any other statute or law of the State of Mississippi, and shall likewise have the power to alter, modify and repeal such orders, resolutions or ordinances.

This section shall not authorize the governing authorities of a municipality to (a) levy taxes of any kind or increase the levy of any authorized tax, (b) issue bonds of any kind, (c) change the requirements, practices or procedures for municipal elections or establish any new elective office, (d) change the procedure for annexation of additional territory into the municipal boundaries, (e) change the structure or form of the municipal government, (f) permit the sale, manufacture, distribution, possession or transportation of alcoholic beverages, or (g) grant any donation; unless such actions are specifically authorized by another statute or law of the State of Mississippi.”

Section 21-35-31 provides in part:

“The governing authorities of every municipality in the state shall have their books audited annually by a competent accountant or auditor, who has paid a privilege tax as such in this state, and shall pay for same out of the general fund. . .”.

In response to your inquiry, we find no statutory or constitutional prohibition against the contemplated action.

Furthermore, in our opinion, said action would not be inconsistent with Section 21-35-31, supra , which requires municipal governing authorities to have their books audited annually, or any other statute or constitutional provision of which we are aware.

Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that the Board of Aldermen of the City of Shelby may lawfully adopt an order or resolution authorizing the employment of an independent Certified Public Accountant to conduct an audit or investigation to determine if there have been any improprieties in the operation of City government.

Very truly yours,

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Attorney General