MS 2022-11-W-Hammack-November-28-2022-Mississippi-Code-Annotated-Section-27-1-9 November 28, 2022

Can a Mississippi county board of supervisors override the tax assessor/collector's chosen effective date for employee raises?

Short answer: No. As long as the raises fit within the tax assessor/collector's approved annual budget, the elected tax assessor/collector decides the effective date of prospective raises for the office's employees. The board of supervisors approves the office's overall budget but cannot dictate when raises take effect within that budget.

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 AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent.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

A common county-government dispute: who decides when an employee raise actually takes effect?

In Clarke County, the Tax Assessor/Tax Collector wanted to give raises to office employees. The dollar amounts were within the office's approved annual budget. But the Board of Supervisors took the position that it could set the effective date of those raises (which can mean a board postponing raises by a quarter or two to ease cash flow, or trying to align all county raises to one date for political reasons).

The AG sided with the elected tax assessor/collector. Section 27-1-9 gives the assessor/collector "sole authority" to set salaries within the office's approved budget. Once the budget is approved, the board's role ends. The board cannot use the effective-date question as a back-door way to control compensation decisions that the statute placed with the elected tax assessor/collector.

This is the same separation-of-powers principle that runs through Mississippi county government: elected officials with statutory authority over their own offices control internal compensation; the board of supervisors controls the size of the budget envelope, not what happens inside it.

What this means for you

If you're a Mississippi county tax assessor/collector

You set the effective date of raises for your office staff, full stop, as long as the raises fit within your already-approved budget. You do not need the board of supervisors to ratify the date. Best practice:

Keep your raises documented in the office payroll records, with a clear effective date.
Make sure the cumulative effect of raises does not push your office over its annual budget. The protection runs only to within-budget raises.
If you want to give a raise that would push you over budget, you do need to go to the board first to request a budget amendment. The board decides the size of the envelope.

If you're a county supervisor or board attorney

You cannot withhold or postpone payment of a salary that has been properly approved within an elected officer's budget. As MS AG Op., Goff (Apr. 6, 2012) put it, "once the salaries, including any raises, have been approved as part of the overall budget of the tax assessor's office, the Board of Supervisors has no authority to withhold payment of the salaries as approved absent any challenge to validity of the claim."

What the board can do:

Set the total budget for the assessor/collector's office at the July budget meeting (Section 27-1-9(b)).
Increase or reduce that total amount based on what is "necessary and proper."
Reject specific reimbursement claims if they are facially invalid.

What the board cannot do:

Change the salaries of the assessor/collector's deputies and employees once those salaries are within the approved budget.
Decide when raises take effect.
Use the effective-date issue as leverage over the elected officer's personnel decisions.

If you're a county payroll clerk or HR director

When you receive a raise authorization from the tax assessor/collector that fits within the office's approved budget, process it on the effective date the assessor/collector specified. You do not need separate board approval. If the board later objects, the issue is between the board and the assessor/collector, not your office.

If you're a deputy or office employee

Your salary is set by the elected tax assessor/collector, not the board. If your office is being told a raise has been blocked or delayed by the board, that is contrary to this opinion. Raise the issue with your elected official.

Common questions

Q: Does this also apply to the sheriff, circuit clerk, and chancery clerk?
A: Section 27-1-9 specifically addresses the tax assessor/collector. Other elected county officers operate under their own enabling statutes. The general principle (board controls the total budget, elected officer controls internal compensation) applies broadly, but always check the specific statute for the office in question.

Q: Can the assessor/collector pay a deputy more than the assessor/collector earns?
A: No. Section 27-1-9 specifically provides that "[n]o deputy shall receive a salary which exceeds the salary of the assessor and tax collector."

Q: When does the budget cycle work?
A: The assessor/collector submits a proposed budget at the July board meeting. The board examines it and sets the final amount for the fiscal year beginning October 1. Once the fiscal year is underway, the assessor/collector operates within that envelope.

Q: Can the board reduce the assessor/collector's budget mid-year?
A: Section 27-1-9 lets the board set the budget at the July meeting and gives the board authority to "increase or reduce said amount as it deems necessary and proper" while reviewing the budget. Mid-year reductions are constrained by general principles of municipal finance and existing-employee contractual expectations; consult your board attorney before attempting one.

Q: Where does the effective-date question come up most often?
A: When a board majority is uncomfortable with an elected officer's compensation decisions and is looking for indirect ways to slow them down. This opinion closes that workaround.

Background and statutory framework

Mississippi county government is built around elected officers who run their own offices, with the board of supervisors holding the budget pursestrings but not the day-to-day operational controls. Section 27-1-9 is the statute that codifies this for tax assessors and collectors. It does two things at once:

Subsection (a) authorizes the assessor/collector to appoint deputies and "fix their compensation, subject to the budget for the assessor and tax collector's office approved by the county board of supervisors."
Subsection (b) sets up the budget process. The assessor/collector submits a proposed budget. The board reviews it, can increase or decrease it, and then the office operates within the approved envelope.

The two AG opinions cited (Haywood from May 2012, and Goff from April 2012) had already established the rule that the assessor/collector has sole authority over salaries within the budget and that the board cannot withhold payments. This 2022 opinion extends the same logic to a slightly different question: not the amount of raises, but the effective date of raises. The answer is the same. Effective dates are an internal compensation decision belonging to the elected officer.

Citations and references

Statutes:
- Miss. Code Ann. § 27-1-9 (tax assessor and collector; deputies; budget)

Prior AG opinions referenced:
- MS AG Op., Haywood (May 1, 2012), tax assessor/collector has sole authority to set salaries within the total budget
- MS AG Op., Goff (Apr. 6, 2012), board of supervisors cannot withhold approved salaries

Source

Original opinion text

November 28, 2022

William C. Hammack, Esq.
Attorney, Clarke County Board of Supervisors
1724A 23rd Avenue
Meridian, Mississippi 39301

Re: Mississippi Code Annotated Section 27-1-9

Dear Mr. Hammack:

The Office of the Attorney General has received your request for an official opinion.

Question Presented

Assuming the Tax Assessor/Tax Collector requests to grant or grants raises to employees of his or her offices in amounts that are within the approved budget for the office, does the Board of Supervisors have ultimate authority to determine the effective date of such raises?

Brief Response

As long as the amount of the raises is within the tax assessor/collector's approved budget for the current fiscal year, it is the tax assessor/collector who determines the effective date of prospective raises for employees of his or her office.

Applicable Law and Discussion

Section 27-1-9 of the Mississippi Code provides, in relevant part:

(a) Each assessor and tax collector shall appoint a sufficient number of deputies to assist him in carrying out the duties of his office and fix their compensation, subject to the budget for the assessor and tax collector's office approved by the county board of supervisors. No deputy shall receive a salary which exceeds the salary of the assessor and tax collector. . . .

(b) The assessor and tax collector shall, at the July meeting of the board of supervisors, submit a budget of estimated expenses of his office for the ensuing fiscal year beginning October 1 in such form as shall be prescribed by the Director of the State Department of Audit. The board shall examine this proposed budget and determine the amount to be expended by the assessor and tax collector in the performance of his duties for the fiscal year and may increase or reduce said amount as it deems necessary and proper.

The budget shall include amounts for compensating deputies and other employees of the assessor and tax collector's office, for travel and transportation expenses of the assessor and tax collector and deputies, for theft insurance premiums, for equipment and supplies of his office, and for such other expenses as may be incurred in the performance of the duties of his office. . . .

This office has previously opined that "the tax assessor/collector has the sole authority to set salaries of his/her employees, so long as the salaries remain within the total budget for that office." MS AG Op., Haywood at 3 (May 1, 2012). We have further opined that "once the salaries, including any raises, have been approved as part of the overall budget of the tax assessor's office, the Board of Supervisors has no authority to withhold payment of the salaries as approved absent any challenge to validity of the claim." MS AG Op., Goff at 2 (Apr. 6, 2012). Accordingly, as long as the amount of the raises is within the tax assessor/collector's approved budget for the current fiscal year, the Board of Supervisors has no authority to determine the effective date of prospective raises granted by the tax assessor/collector to his or her employees.

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