Mississippi Advisory Opinions March 21, 1988: AGO 000008215 (March 21, 1988)

AGO 000008215.

Dear Mr. Ellis:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an opinion and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Paraphrasing your letter of request, we find the following issue being presented for consideration:

Do the bonding requirements of Miss. Code Ann. 21-15-1, as amended, apply to specially chartered municipalities? Miss. Code Ann. 21-15-1 (Supp. 1987), a copy of which is attached and incorporated herein, in part provides that all officers elected at the general municipal election provided for in 21-11-7 shall give bond with sufficient surety in a penalty equal to five percent of the sum of all the state and municipal taxes shown on the assessment rolls and the levies to have been collected in the municipality for the year immediately preceding the commencement of the term of office.

Miss. Code Ann. 21-11-7 was repealed by General Laws, 1986, Chapter 495, 329, effective from and after January 1, 1987. This provision, along with its successor under the new election code, Miss. Code Ann. 23-15-173 (Supp. 1987) simply provides the date for general municipal elections. However, these statutory provisions fixing the time for holding elections do not generally apply to municipalities operating under a special or private charter. See Miss. Code Ann. 23-15-559 (Supp. 1987).

As you have indicated in your letter, the City of Greenville operates under a private or special charter which has specific provisions for the posting of surety bonds by its officers and employees. That being the case and consistent with the above- cited statutory provision, this office is of the opinion, the bonding requirements of Miss. Code Ann. 21-15-1 does not apply to the City of Greenville.

If is this office can be of further assistance on this or other matters, please let us know.

Very truly yours,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: Samuel Keyes, Jr. Assistant Attorney General

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