Mississippi Advisory Opinions June 09, 2006: No. 2006-00239 (June 9, 2006)

No. 2006-00239.

DOCK 2006-00239

Dear Councilman Magee:

Attorney General Jim Hood received your letter of request and assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter states:

The City of Laurel operates under the Mayor-Council form of government. The governing authorities consist of the Mayor and seven council members representing a particular ward.

I, Johnny Magee, Council President, am requesting an official opinion to the following questions:

1. If someone is annexed into the City of Laurel can they vote in school bond elections?

2. What taxes do the annexed citizens pay and where do their school taxes go, the county or city?

The Mississippi Supreme Court in Extension of the Boundaries of the City of Winona v. City of Winona, 879 So.2d 966 (Miss. 2004) affirmed a Montgomery County Chancellor's approval of an annexation and said:

Under this indicium the chancellor considered the impact of annexation on schools. After giving a brief history of this indicium and citing that Miss. Code Section 37-7- 611 is now repealed, the chancellor found that with the precleared repeal of the code section that "municipal annexation has no impact on school district lines."

In Poole v. City of Pearl, 908 So.2d 728 (Miss. 2005) the Court said:

With the repeal of Miss. Code Ann. Section 37-7-611, a municipal annexation no longer mandates a change in school district boundary lines. Having raised no other additional factors to oppose annexation and finding that annexation does not automatically change a neighborhood's school district, it is our opinion that the Special Chancellor was not in error in holding that no other factors oppose annexation.

We preface our response to your first question by stating our assumptions that you are referring to a referendum on a bond issue for the municipal separate school district and further that you are referring to an annexation subsequent to the preclearance of the repeal of Section 37-7-611. Based on those assumptions and the above quoted cases, we are of the opinion that qualified electors residing in such an annexed area remain qualified electors of the county school district and are not eligible to vote in a referendum on a municipal separate school district bond issue.

In response to your second question, since annexed citizens remain residents of the county school district, they would pay taxes lawfully levied to support the county school district.

Sincerely,

JIM HOOD, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: Phil Carter

Special Assistant Attorney General