Opinion ID: 1817476
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Annexation in Mississippi

Text: ¶ 6. Since 1892, the Mississippi Legislature has provided that our courts must determine the reasonableness of a municipality's desire to expand or reduce its boundaries. 1892 Miss. Laws ch. 66, § 3. Annexation statutes in Mississippi have been fairly consistent since 1892. Our current statute, adopted on April 18, 1950, provides that a chancellor, rather than a jury, must determine that reasonable public and municipal services will be rendered in the annexed territory within a reasonable time, and that the proposed annexation is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity. Miss.Code Ann. § 21-1-33. ¶ 7. The chancery courts (hearing annexation cases) and this Court (reviewing the appeals of many of those cases) encounter the recurring thunderous objection of many living in a proposed annexation area who believe they should be allowed to vote before being taken into a city. A frequent argument presented is that persons who purchased property out in the county to escape city living should not have their decision rendered null and void without a vote. ¶ 8. Every year since 1997, approximately twelve bills or resolutions have been proposed in the Legislature on the subject of annexation. In the 2005 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature, eleven separate bills, including a proposed constitutional amendment, were introduced to radically change annexation procedures. See House Bills 187, 216, 292, 483, 643, 761, 783, 796, 1169; House Concurrent Resolution 32; and Senate Bill 2889. Most of the bills sought to abolish the current method of annexation (having a chancellor approve an annexation's reasonableness) and replace it with an election to determine the reasonableness of an annexation. Several bills required an approval vote in the territory the municipality sought to annex. Some of the bills required a simple majority vote of the qualified electors residing in the proposed annexation area. One bill required a majority vote in both the city and the proposed annexation area, while still another bill required approval of 60% of the qualified electors residing in the proposed annexation area. One member of the House of Representatives proposed a constitutional amendment which would have required a majority vote in a special election. All eleven bills died in committee, leaving intact and unchanged the statute enacted in 1950. ¶ 9. Thus, accepting as we must the Legislature's exclusive authority to make and change the law; and accepting as we must our limitation to interpret and apply the laws passed by the Legislature, we now proceed to decide this case, not unmindful of the substantial public dissent to our current law; but ever mindful that such dissent is more properly communicated to members of the Legislature than to the chancellors and Justices on this Court.