MS 2020-07-D-Glasskox-June-5-2020-County-Election-Commissioners-Conducting-Municipal-Electi 2020-06-05

If a Mississippi city contracts with the county election commission to run its city elections, how much does the county get paid?

Short answer: By agreement. The AG concluded that under Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-221(2), if a Mississippi city abolishes its municipal election commission and contracts with the county election commission to conduct its elections, the city's compensation to the county commissioners is whatever the city and county agree on in the cooperation agreement, fixed by the city's ordinance.

Disclaimer: This is an official Mississippi Attorney General opinion. AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent. This summary is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed Mississippi attorney for advice on your specific situation.

Plain-English summary

Mississippi cities have two ways to run their elections. The default is to maintain a municipal election commission with its own commissioners. The alternative, set out in Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-221, is to abolish the municipal commission and pass an ordinance entering into an agreement with the county election commission to conduct the city's elections instead. The trade-off is administrative: the city avoids appointing and paying its own commission, and gets the benefit of the county commission's existing infrastructure for poll workers, voter rolls, and equipment.

Chairman Glaskox of Jackson County's commission asked the AG how the county commissioners get paid when they take on this work. The AG's answer was simple: the compensation is whatever the city and the county agree on in the contract that follows the city's adopting ordinance. There is no statutory rate. The AG cited a string of prior opinions confirming that municipal-election-commissioner compensation is set by ordinance of the municipal governing authority. When the county commission is doing the work under a § 23-15-221(2) agreement, the same ordinance-driven approach applies.

The practical implication: a city wanting this arrangement needs to negotiate compensation up front with the county election commission and lock the terms into the cooperation agreement. The amount can be a flat fee per election, a per-precinct rate, an hourly rate, or any other reasonable structure both sides agree to.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2020. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Background and statutory framework

Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-221 lets a city outsource its election administration to the county. Subsection (2) lays out the procedure:

The city council or board of aldermen or other governing authority of any municipality desiring to avail itself of the provisions of the Mississippi Election Code regarding the duties of municipal election commissioners shall adopt an ordinance declaring its intention to enter into an agreement with the municipality's county to have the county election commissioners conduct municipal elections and other functions that are performed by municipal election commissioners for the benefit of the efficiency and conformity of elections, to be effective on and after a date fixed in the ordinance which must be at least thirty (30) days after the ordinance is adopted and on the first day of a month.

The statute requires (1) an ordinance from the city, (2) declaring intent to contract with the county, (3) effective at least 30 days after adoption, (4) on the first day of a month. The compensation question is not addressed in the statutory text. That left a vacuum that the AG resolved by reference to long-standing AG opinions on municipal election-commissioner pay.

The AG cited three prior opinions, MS AG Op., Turnage (September 15, 2006), MS AG Op., Mitchell (December 18, 1998), and MS AG Op., Rogers (July 17, 1979), all standing for the same proposition: a municipality fixes the amount and method of compensation of its election commissioners by ordinance. By extension, when the county commission is doing the work under a contractual agreement, the same ordinance-fixed rate applies, except the rate is the negotiated amount the city has agreed to pay the county commission for performing those duties.

A few practical points the opinion implies but does not spell out:

The contract is between the city and the county election commission. It needs both sides' assent. A city cannot unilaterally set a rate; a county cannot demand more than the city's ordinance provides.
The 30-day delay between ordinance adoption and effective date gives both sides time to finalize the agreement before the new arrangement kicks in.
The "first day of a month" effective date keeps election cycles aligned and avoids mid-month transition confusion.
An existing city election commission would need to be abolished, by separate ordinance or as part of the same one, before the county commission can take over.

Common questions

Q: Could a city try to pay the county commissioners less than they pay their own commissioners on county elections?
A: There is no statutory floor or ceiling on what a city pays the county under this kind of agreement. It is whatever both sides agree to in the contract. As a practical matter, the county commission has every reason to demand at least the rate it pays itself for county work, since otherwise the marginal cost of running the city election falls on county taxpayers.

Q: What if the agreement runs out and the city has not yet recreated its commission?
A: The opinion does not address gap periods. A city that has abolished its commission and let the agreement lapse would presumably be unable to conduct its next election until either it recreated its commission or renewed the county arrangement.

Q: Can a city pay the county commissioners individually, or does the money flow to the county?
A: The opinion does not specify the payment vehicle. Practical norms suggest payment runs to the county, which then pays its commissioners. The city can negotiate the structure as part of the agreement.

Q: Does the 30-day delay apply when the city is just renewing an existing arrangement?
A: The statute's 30-day rule attaches to the city's ordinance "declaring its intention to enter into an agreement." A renewal that does not require a new ordinance might not trigger the 30-day clock, but the safer reading is that any ordinance change triggers the delay.

Citations and references

Statutes:
- Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-221 (City may abolish municipal commission and contract with county)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-221(2) (Procedure for ordinance and effective date)

Prior AG opinions:
- MS AG Op., Turnage (September 15, 2006)
- MS AG Op., Mitchell (December 18, 1998)
- MS AG Op., Rogers (July 17, 1979)

Source

Original opinion text

June 5, 2020

Honorable Danny Glaskox
Chairman, Jackson County Election Commission
Post Office Box 998
Pascagoula, Mississippi 39568

Re: County Election Commissioners Conducting Municipal Elections

Dear Mr. Glaskox:

The Office of the Attorney General is in receipt of your request for the issuance of an official opinion.

Question Presented

If the governing authorities of a municipality adopt an ordinance abolishing its municipal election commission and thereafter enter into an agreement with the County Election Commission to conduct its municipal elections pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-221, what compensation would the county commissioners receive for conducting those municipal elections?

Brief Response

If the municipal governing authority adopts an ordinance pursuant to Section 23-15-221 by which to enter into an agreement with the county election commission to conduct its municipal elections, compensation of the county election commission would be in such amount as agreed upon by the municipal governing authorities and the county election commission as authorized by said statute.

Applicable Law and Discussion

Section 23-15-221(2) states, in relevant part, as follows:

The city council or board of aldermen or other governing authority of any municipality desiring to avail itself of the provisions of the Mississippi Election Code regarding the duties of municipal election commissioners shall adopt an ordinance declaring its intention to enter into an agreement with the municipality's county to have the county election commissioners conduct municipal elections and other functions that are performed by municipal election commissioners for the benefit of the efficiency and conformity of elections, to be effective on and after a date fixed in the ordinance which must be at least thirty (30) days after the ordinance is adopted and on the first day of a month. ...

As for the amount and method of compensation of municipal election commissioners, this office has long recognized that such is fixed by the municipal governing authority by ordinance. See MS AG Op., Turnage (September 15, 2006); MS AG Op., Mitchell (December 18, 1998); MS AG Op., Rogers (July 17, 1979). Therefore, municipalities, seeking to adopt an ordinance in order to enter into an agreement with the municipality's county election commission to conduct its municipal elections, should fix the amount and method of compensation of the county election commission by said agreement as authorized by Section 23-15-221(2).

If this office may be of any further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

LYNN FITCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: /s/ Phil Carter
Phil Carter
Special Assistant Attorney General