Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 25, 1985: 19850725 (July 25, 1985)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mr. Thomas Walman

City Attorney

City of McComb

617 Delaware Avenue

P. O. Box 762

McComb, Mississippi 39648

Municipalities - Use of Motor Vehicles

Dear Mr. Walman:

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

Your letter states:

“This office represents the City of McComb, and and the City has requested that I contact your office for an official opinion regarding the use of city vehicles. The City requests an opinion regarding the following:

1. Under what circumstances may city employees take city vehicles outside the corporate limits?

2. May policemen and / or firemen take vehicles assigned to their respective departments outside the corporate limits to their homes?

3. May the city treat vehicles assigned to the emergency services (police and fire) differently than it treats other city vehicles insofar as allowing vehicles to be taken outside the corporate limits or taken to the homes of personnel assigned to those departments?

The City currently has certain policies that have been called into question, and the City requests an opinion at your earliest convenience.”

In response to your first question, this office finds no specific statute which either authorizes or prohibits the use of municipal motor vehicles outside the municipal corporate limits. However, Mississippi Code Annotated, Section 21-17-5, as amended by Chapter 487, Laws of 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 alcholic beverages, or (g) grant any donation; unless such actions are specifically authorized by another statute or law of the State of Mississippi.”

Pursuant to the authority granted by the above section of law, it is the opinion of this office that a municipality may authorize the use of its property (motor vehicles) outside of the municipal corporate limits when such use is in furtherance of official municipal business.

In response to your second question, please see the enclosed copy of an opinion addressed to Alderman Bob Patterson, dated December 3, 1984. With regard to your particular question that opinion summarizes certain portions of an earlier opinion to Honorable James M. Hood, Jr., dated May 18, 1982, also enclosed, and states that:

“There is no statutory authority for a municipality to furnish motor vehicles to employees for the purpose of going to and from their residences to their places of duty and that a municipal motor vehicle used for the personal use of an employee would result in a donation of municipal funds which is not lawful.

However, that opinion further states that the municipal governing authorities could permit a municipal employee to retain in his possession a municipally owned vehicle to be used in the discharge of the employee's duties for the municipality when such use would be for the benefit of and to the best interest of the municipality.”

Restated, it is the opinion of this office that a municipal vehicle may not be used for the personal use of an employee since specifically prohibited under item (g) of Section 21-17-5 above. Accordingly, if an employee is to be permitted to take a vehicle to his home for nights and / or weekends, the governing authorities of the municipality may authorize such use only if, in their determination, the duties of the employee necessitate such use and such use of the vehicle would benefit and be in the best interest of the municipality.

In response to your third question, this office finds no specific statutory provision of law which treats municipal vehicles assigned to emergency services, such as fire and police vehicles, any differently than other municipal vehicles insofar as the taking of such vehicles outside the municipal corporate limits or to the homes of personnel assigned to such emergency service departments. Accordingly, the answer given to your second question above is also applicable here.

Very truly yours,

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Attorney General.