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 ordinance codes

The Town of Caledonia proposed making certain state misdemeanors violations of town ordinance. The opinion treated that as permissible but held it did not let the town keep the state assessments: under § 99-19-73, those are remitted to the State regardless of how the offense is charged in municipal court.

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: Does adopting a misdemeanor as a town ordinance let the town keep the state assessments?
A: No. The AG's response was that "State assessments collected pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated Section 99-19-73 must be remitted to the state," while "Municipal fines, fees, and court costs, such as those collected pursuant to Section 21-23-7, would remain with the municipality." Recharacterizing the offense as a town ordinance violation did not change the state-assessment obligation.

Q: What state assessments apply to municipal-court convictions?
A: Section 99-19-73 sets the state assessment schedule. The opinion did not reproduce specific dollar amounts; it relied on the statute's command that the municipal clerk deposit the assessments with the State Treasurer monthly and report the number of violations under each subsection.

Q: Does state assessment apply no matter how the charge is filed?
A: Under the opinion, yes. The AG quoted its Davis opinion that a defendant convicted of violating a municipal ordinance "should be charged state assessments pursuant to Section 99-19-73(5) subject to the statutory maximum." The municipal fines and court costs stay with the municipality; the state assessments go to the State.

Q: What's the cap on municipal ordinance penalties?
A: Section 21-13-19, quoted in the opinion, limits incarceration to "no more than six (6) months in jail" and the fine to "a maximum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for each such violation in any case tried without a jury."

Q: Can the state assessment be suspended if the fine is suspended?
A: No. The opinion notes § 99-19-73(9): "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."

Background and statutory framework

The opinion turns on the interaction of several statutes. Section 21-13-19 makes state misdemeanors criminal offenses against the municipality where committed, "without further action of the municipal authorities," and caps the penalty at six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for each violation tried without a jury. Section 21-23-7(1) gives the municipal judge jurisdiction over "violations of the municipal ordinances and state misdemeanor laws made offenses against the municipality," and § 21-23-7(11) lists the allowable court costs. A municipal-ordinance fine set under § 21-13-1 is imposed by the municipal court on a finding of a violation.

Section 99-19-73 is the state assessment schedule. Subsection (10)(c), quoted in the opinion, requires the municipal clerk to deposit "all the state assessments collected in the municipal court" with the State Treasurer monthly and to report to the Department of Finance and Administration the number of violations under each subsection.

The AG read these together: state assessments under § 99-19-73 must be remitted to the State, while municipal fines, fees, and court costs (such as those under § 21-23-7) stay with the municipality, regardless of whether the offense is charged as a state misdemeanor or a municipal ordinance violation. The AG cited its 1999 Davis opinion, which reached the same result for court costs and state assessments on 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."