Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 17, 2001: AGO 000014487 (April 17, 2001)

AGO 000014487.

Dear Mr. Gore:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your recent letter on behalf of Grenada County asking for a reconsideration of our prior opinion to you dated April 13, 2001 regarding Travel Expenses for State Senators and Representatives. In your letter you ask whether a county may pay the reasonable and necessary travel expenses of its State Senators and Representatives to travel to Washington to meet with U.S. Senators and Representatives of Mississippi to lobby for federal funds for the county.

Miss. Code Ann. Section 17-3-1 authorizes counties to spend funds for the purpose of bringing into favorable notice the opportunities of such county:

The board of supervisors of any county in Mississippi, and the mayor and board of aldermen or board of commissioners of any municipality in the State of Mississippi, may in their discretion, set aside, appropriate and expend monies, not to exceed one mill of their respective valuation and assessment for the purpose of advertising and bringing into favorable notice the opportunities, possibilities and resources of such municipality or county.

Miss. Code Ann. Section 19-3-40 enumerates the powers of the board of supervisors of the various counties in the state:

(1) The board of supervisors of any county shall have the power to adopt any orders, resolutions or ordinances with respect to county affairs, property and finances, for which no specific provision has been made by general law and which are not inconsistent with the Mississippi Constitution, the Mississippi Code of 1972, or any other statute or law of the State of Mississippi; and any such board shall likewise have the power to alter, modify and repeal such orders, resolutions or ordinances. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, the powers granted to boards of supervisors in this section are complete without the existence of or reference to any specific authority granted in any other statute or law of the State of Mississippi.

Such orders, resolutions or ordinances shall apply countywide except when the governing authorities or any municipality situated within a county adopt any order, resolution or ordinance governing the same general subject matter. In such case the municipal order, resolution or ordinance shall govern within the corporate limits of the municipality.

(2) This section shall not authorize the board of supervisors of a county to (a) levy taxes other than those authorized by statute or increase the levy of any authorized tax beyond statutorily established limits, (b) issue bonds of any kind, (c) change the requirements, practices or procedures for county elections or establish any new elective office, (d) use any public funds, equipment, supplies or materials for any private purpose, (e) regulate common carrier railroads, (f) grant any donation, or (g) without prior legislative approval, regulate, directly or indirectly, the amount of rent charged for leasing private residential property in which the county does not have a property interest; unless such actions are specifically authorized by another statute or law of the State of Mississippi.

We are of the opinion that if the Board of Supervisors of Grenada County finds consistent with fact, and encompasses such findings in an order spread upon the minutes, that to obtain Federal funds for infrastructure project within the county is in the best interest of the county and that it would be beneficial to that effort if its State Senators and Representatives in a capacity representing Grenada County accompany a Board of Supervisors' Delegation to Washington, D.C. in order to meet with federal officials, then section 19-3-40 and 17-3-1 of the Mississippi Code Annotated read together permit the Board of Supervisors to reimburse its State Senators and Representatives in a capacity representing Grenada County for their reasonable and necessary travel expenses for such trip.

If we may be of any further assistance please let us know.

Very Truly Yours,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: Jonathan Compretta

Special Assistant Attorney General