Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 19 - COUNTIES AND COUNTY OFFICERS (§§ 19-1-1 — 19-31-51) › Chapter 2 - COUNTY GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION ACT (§§ 19-2-1 — 19-2-13) › Section 19-2-11 - State Auditor to determine whether counties have implemented countywide system of road administration, central purchasing system, inventory control system, and countywide personnel administration; notice to counties; certificate of noncompliance; penalties; appeals

It shall be the duty of the State Auditor to examine annually the books, records, accounts and other documents of each county and to perform such investigations as may be necessary to determine (a) if the county has actually adopted and put into operation the practice of constructing and maintaining all of the roads and bridges of the county as a unit, when and as required in Section
19-2-3
, with all of the construction and maintenance machinery and other equipment, construction and maintenance funds and other construction and maintenance facilities available to the county for highway use placed under the administration of the county road manager for use in any part of the county regardless of beat lines and to the best interest of the county as a whole, (b) if the county has established and implemented, and is maintaining, a central purchasing system for all equipment, heavy equipment, machinery, supplies, commodities, materials and services as required by Section
31-7-101
, (c) if the county has established and implemented, and is maintaining, the inventory control system required by Section
31-7-107
, and (d) if the county has adopted and implemented a system of countywide personnel administration as required by Section
19-2-9
. If upon his examination the Auditor determines that a county is not in substantial compliance with the requirements described in (a), (b), (c) and (d) above, he shall file a certified written notice with the clerk of the board of supervisors notifying the board of supervisors of his intention to issue a certificate of noncompliance to the State Tax Commission and to the Attorney General thirty (30) days immediately following the date of the filing of such notice unless within such period the county substantially complies with the requirements described in (a), (b), (c) and (d) above. If after thirty (30) days from the giving of the notice the county, in the opinion of the State Auditor, has not substantially complied with the requirements described in (a), (b), (c) and (d) above, the Auditor shall issue his certificate of noncompliance to the board of supervisors, State Tax Commission and the Attorney General. Thereafter, the State Tax Commission shall withhold all allocations and payments to the county that would otherwise be payable under Sections
27-65-75(4)
,
27-5-101(b)(vi)
and
65-33-45
, until such time as the Tax Commission and the Attorney General receive from the State Auditor written notice of cancellation of the certificate of noncompliance. However, all of such funds as are withheld from the county during the first ninety (90) days following issuance of a certificate of noncompliance under this subsection shall accrue to the account of that county and shall be subsequently allocated and paid to that county as otherwise provided by law if within such ninety-day period the board of supervisors, the State Tax Commission and the Attorney General receive written notice from the State Auditor of cancellation of the certificate of noncompliance. The State Auditor shall not unreasonably delay the issuance of a written notice of cancellation of a certificate of noncompliance but shall promptly issue a written notice of cancellation of certificate of noncompliance upon an affirmative showing by the county that it has come into substantial compliance. If the State Auditor has not issued a written notice of cancellation of the certificate of noncompliance within ninety (90) days after issuance of a certificate of noncompliance, all such funds as have been withheld and accrued to the county during such period, along with all monthly allocations which accrue but are withheld from the county following such ninety-day period for failure of the county to comply, shall be forfeited and reallocated among all other counties in the state that are eligible for such funds in accordance with the same formula for calculating original allocations among counties.
There shall be no administrative appeal from any action of the State Auditor under this subsection in issuing or failing to issue any certificate of noncompliance or notice of cancellation of a certificate of noncompliance; however, if a civil action is filed for and on behalf of any county which is aggrieved by any action of the State Auditor under this section within ninety (90) days after issuance to the county of a certificate of noncompliance, any money as would otherwise be reallocated to other counties under this section shall be held in escrow pending final determination of the civil action.
Laws, 1988 Ex Sess, ch. 14, § 59, eff. 10/1/1989.