If a Mississippi town adopts misdemeanors as municipal ordinance violations, do state-assessment fees still go to the State?
Plain-English summary
The Town of Caledonia was considering adopting an ordinance that would make certain state misdemeanors also a violation of town ordinance. The town attorney asked: would the municipal court still collect and remit state assessments to the State on these cases, or could the town keep the money since it was now an ordinance violation?
The AG separated the revenue streams. Mississippi has two distinct categories of municipal-court revenue:
1. Municipal fines, fees, and court costs (e.g., the costs in § 21-23-7) belong to the municipality. The municipality can establish ordinance fines and collect court costs to fund municipal court operations.
2. State assessments (under § 99-19-73) belong to the State. These are mandatory add-ons to fines and penalties, deposited monthly with the State Treasurer.
The state assessment scheme is independent of who controls the prosecution. Even when a misdemeanor is charged as a municipal ordinance violation rather than a state criminal offense, state assessments still apply and still flow to the State Treasurer. The municipality cannot keep what should go to the State just by recharacterizing the offense as municipal.
The AG also noted that Section 99-19-73(9) prevents creative workarounds: even if the fine is suspended, the state assessment cannot be suspended or reduced.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2021. 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.
What the opinion said for each audience, at the time
For Mississippi municipal courts and clerks
The 2021 framework was clear: every conviction or guilty plea for any misdemeanor (state or municipal) carries state assessments that must go to the State. The municipal clerk's monthly reporting under § 99-19-73(10)(c) had to include the lump-sum assessment total and the per-subsection violation count.
For Mississippi cities and towns adopting comprehensive ordinance codes
In 2021, many Mississippi municipalities had broad ordinance codes that adopted state misdemeanors as municipal violations under § 21-13-19. The 2021 opinion confirmed that this practice was legitimate but did not let municipalities capture state assessments. The state-share is fixed by statute regardless of how the municipality labels the offense.
For municipal judges
The judge's role in 2021 was to: (1) impose any applicable municipal ordinance fine and court costs, (2) impose state assessments that flowed to the State, (3) ensure the assessments were not suspended even if other parts of the sentence were. Section 99-19-73(9) blocks suspension of state assessments specifically.
For citizens and defendants
When you got convicted of a misdemeanor in municipal court, the total amount you owed typically included multiple line items: the fine itself, court costs, and various state assessments. The municipality kept the fine and costs; the state got the assessments. Understanding the breakdown helped explain why a "small" fine could cost several hundred dollars total.
For state revenue officials
The 2021 opinion confirmed that state assessment revenue was protected even from creative municipal recharacterization. Cities could not adopt misdemeanors as ordinances to capture all the revenue.
Common questions
Q: What is § 21-13-19?
A: A general statute saying that all state misdemeanors automatically become criminal offenses against the municipality, "without further action of the municipal authorities," when the offense is committed within the municipality's corporate limits. So municipalities don't have to separately adopt every misdemeanor; they're already prosecutable in municipal court. The Town of Caledonia was apparently going further by also adopting them as ordinances.
Q: What's the difference between charging a state misdemeanor and a municipal ordinance violation?
A: Substantively, often very little. The same conduct can be charged either way. Procedurally, they may differ in who prosecutes, what fines apply, and what defenses are available. Practically, the choice is sometimes about which case file location and which court jurisdiction makes sense for a given offense.
Q: What state assessments apply to municipal-court convictions?
A: Section 99-19-73 has detailed schedules. Different offense types (DUI, traffic, etc.) have different assessment amounts. The total can range from less than $50 to several hundred dollars depending on the offense. The schedule is updated periodically.
Q: Can a municipality adopt some misdemeanors but not others?
A: Yes. Municipalities have flexibility in their ordinance codes. They can choose which state misdemeanors to also adopt as ordinances, set ordinance-specific penalties (within statutory caps), and allocate enforcement priorities locally. But state assessments apply to whatever charge is filed.
Q: What's the cap on municipal ordinance penalties?
A: Section 21-13-19 caps penalties for misdemeanors charged as municipal ordinance violations: maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for each violation in cases tried without a jury.
Q: Why does the state insist on assessments even on municipal ordinance violations?
A: State assessments fund various state-level programs (court system, victim services, training, etc.) that benefit local jurisdictions. The legislature judged that all violations should contribute to these state-level funds, regardless of which sovereignty's law was technically being enforced.
Background and statutory framework
Mississippi's system of municipal-court revenue allocation is detailed and overlapping. Multiple statutes govern who gets what part of fines and costs, and the structure has evolved over time.
Section 21-13-19 makes state misdemeanors automatic violations against the municipality where committed. Section 21-23-7 gives municipal courts jurisdiction over both ordinance violations and state misdemeanors charged as offenses against the municipality. Section 21-23-7(11) lists allowable court costs.
Section 99-19-73 is the state assessment schedule. The schedule has multiple subsections covering different categories of offenses, each with specified amounts. The funds flow to a State Treasury account, which is then distributed by the legislature among various state programs.
The interaction between these provisions is settled by the 2021 opinion: state assessments apply regardless of how the offense is charged in municipal court. Municipalities can structure their ordinance codes however they wish, but state revenue cannot be captured by recharacterization.
This is consistent with the 1999 Davis AG opinion, which had similarly addressed the state-assessment question in the context of city ordinance violations.
Citations and references
Statutes:
- Miss. Code Ann. § 21-13-1, municipal authority to set fines for ordinance violations
- Miss. Code Ann. § 21-13-19, state misdemeanors automatically chargeable as municipal offenses, fine and incarceration caps
- Miss. Code Ann. § 21-23-7, municipal court jurisdiction
- Miss. Code Ann. § 21-23-7(1), municipal judge's jurisdiction over ordinance violations and state misdemeanors
- Miss. Code Ann. § 21-23-7(11), allowable court costs in municipal court
- Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-73, state assessment schedule
- Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-73(5), specific assessment provisions
- Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-73(9), state assessments cannot be suspended or reduced even if fine is suspended
- Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-73(10)(c), municipal clerk's monthly remittance and reporting duty
Prior AG opinions cited:
- MS AG Op., Scanlon (July 1, 2011), municipal court imposes ordinance fines on conviction
- MS AG Op., Moore (Mar. 22, 2002), same
- MS AG Op., Davis (July 16, 1999), municipal authority to charge court costs and state assessments for ordinance violations
Source
- Landing page: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/divisions/opinions-and-policy/recent-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/C.Hemphill_July-13-2021-Fees-and-Fines-for-Violation-of-Municipal-Ordinances.pdf
Original opinion text
July 13, 2021
Christopher D. Hemphill, Esq.
Caledonia Town Attorney
Post Office Drawer 1426
Columbus, Mississippi 39703
Re: Fees and Fines for Violation of Municipal Ordinances
Dear Mr. Hemphill:
The Office of the Attorney General has received your request for an official opinion.
Question Presented
If the Town of Caledonia (the "Town") adopts an ordinance making certain specified misdemeanors a violation of town ordinance, would the municipal court continue to collect and remit to the State of Mississippi those fees, assessments, costs and fines that have previously been remitted to the State?
Response
Yes. State assessments collected pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated Section 99-19-73 must be remitted to the state. Municipal fines, fees, and court costs, such as those collected pursuant to Section 21-23-7, would remain with the municipality.
Applicable Law and Discussion
Section 21-13-19 provides:
All offenses under the penal laws of this state which are misdemeanors, together with the penalty provided for violation thereof, are hereby made, without further action of the municipal authorities, criminal offenses against the municipality in whose corporate limits the offenses may have been committed to the same effect as though such offenses were made offenses against the municipality by separate ordinance in each case. However, for such misdemeanor, any penalty of incarceration is hereby limited to no more than six (6) months in jail, and any fine is hereby limited to a maximum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for each such violation in any case tried without a jury. Judgments for fines, costs, forfeitures and other penalties imposed by municipal courts may be enrolled by filing a certified copy of the record with the clerk of any circuit court and execution may be had thereon as provided by law for other judgments.
Section 21-23-7(1) states, in relevant part: "The municipal judge shall have the jurisdiction to hear and determine, without a jury and without a record of the testimony, all cases charging violations of the municipal ordinances and state misdemeanor laws made offenses against the municipality and to punish offenders therefor as may be prescribed by law." Section 21-23-7(11) lists the allowable court cost for various offenses in municipal court. Any fine established, pursuant to Section 21-13-1, by the municipal governing authority for violation of a municipal ordinance "would be imposed by the municipal court, upon a finding of a violation of the municipal ordinance." MS AG Op., Scanlon at *3 (July 1, 2011) (citing MS AG Op., Moore (Mar. 22, 2002)).
The state assessment schedule is found in Section 99-19-73, which provides, in part:
It shall be the duty of the municipal clerk of each municipality to deposit all the state assessments collected in the municipal court in the municipality on a monthly basis with the State Treasurer pursuant to appropriate procedures established by the State Auditor. The municipal clerk shall make a monthly lump-sum deposit of the total state assessments collected in the municipal court in the municipality under this section, and shall report to the Department of Finance and Administration the total number of violations under each subsection for which state assessments were collected in the municipal court in the municipality during that month.
Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-73(10)(c).
When asked whether a municipality had authority to charge court costs for the violation of a city ordinance, our office previously opined that: "a defendant convicted of violating a municipal ordinance may be charged with court costs of such a conviction. Also, he should be charged state assessments pursuant to Section 99-19-73(5) subject to the statutory maximum." MS AG Op., Davis at *1 (July 16, 1999).[1]
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/ Beebe Garrard
Beebe Garrard
Special Assistant Attorney General
[1] While not specifically responsive to your request, it is also worth noting that Section 99-19-73(9) further provides: "If a fine or other penalty imposed is suspended, in whole or in part, such suspension shall not affect the state assessment under this section. No state assessment imposed under the provisions of this section may be suspended or reduced by the court."