Mississippi Advisory Opinions March 02, 1989: AGO 000008730 (March 2, 1989)

AGO 000008730.

Dear Mr. Gex:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter requesting an opinion from this office and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

You present for opinion several questions pertaining to the per diem authorized by statute for election commissioners' attendance at their annual training seminar and the payment by the county of certain expenses in connection therewith. Your specific questions are as follows:

1) Does the county pay them $40.00 or $50.00 for the first day of their attendance?

2) Can the county legally pay their seminar fee of $100.00?

3) Is there any provision for the county to pay them travel expenses of .20 cents per mile?

4) Can the county legally pay for their lodging?

Your first question calls for a determination of which code section (i.e., Section 25-3-69 or Section 23-15-153) governs the amount of the per diem to be paid election commissioners for the first day of their attendance at their annual training seminar.

Section 23-15-211(2), Miss. Code Ann. (Supp. 1988), requires all election commissioners to attend the annual election training seminar conducted by the Secretary of State. Subsection (4) of 23-15-211, supra, provides as follows:

(4) The participating election commissioners shall be entitled to per diem as provided for in Section 25-3-69, Mississippi Code of 1972, for the first day of their attendance at the elections training seminar to be paid by the board of supervisors of the county they represent, with no compensation for subsequent days of attendance.

Clearly, Section 23-15-211(4), supra, requires that the per diem for the first day of attendance of the training seminar be as provided in Section 25-3-69, Miss. Code Ann. (Supp. 1988). This latter statute provides as follows: 25-3-69. Uniform per diem compensation for officers and employees of state boards, commissions and agencies.

Unless otherwise provided by law, all officers and employees of state agencies, boards, commissions, departments and institutions authorized by law to receive per diem compensation for each day or fraction thereof occupied with the discharge of official duties shall be entitled to forty dollars (40.00) per diem compensation.

Section 23-15-153, Miss. Code Ann. (Supp. 1988), as amended by Chapter 389, Laws of 1988, entitles the commissioners of election to receive a per diem in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) for every day or fraction thereof that they are actually employed in the performance of their duties for the time spent in the revision of the registration books and poll books and in the conduct of an election.

It is the opinion of this office that Section 25-3-69, supra, and not Section 23-15-153, governs the amount of the per diem to be paid the election commissioners for the first day of attendance at the annual election training seminar. As set forth in this statute, the amount of the per diem is forty dollars ($40.00). We would also point out that Section 23-15-211 (4) specifically states that the per diem to be paid the election commissioners by the board of supervisors is for only the first day of their attendance at the election training seminar with no compensation for subsequent days of attendance.

With regard to your remaining questions concerning the payment of the seminar fee, mileage, and meals and lodging, please see the enclosed opinions to Sue Sautermeister, dated August 23, 1985 and November 29, 1984, which address these questions. These opinions interpret Section 23-5-97, Mississippi Code of 1972, which has been recodified as Section 23-15-219, Miss. Code Ann. (Supp. 1988). Consistent with these opinions, it is the opinion of this office that if prior approval is given by the board of supervisors, election commissioners can be reimbursed for necessary travel and subsistence expenses in connection with their required attendance at the annual elections training seminar. This would include reimbursement of the seminar fee.

We hope that we have been responsive to your inquiries.If this office can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Mike Moore, Attorney General

By: Giles W. Bryant Special Assistant Attorney General

/jw