in Mississippi

factor was sort of a “super factor” which was remedial in nature, and which trumped all other
factors because the case was intertwined with voting rights controversies; however, the Court
was not convinced and affirmed the trial court’s denial of annexation as unreasonable. 68
Citizen-Initiated Deannexation
The same statute which grants citizens of an adjoining territory the right to initiate an annexation
gives citizens of existing cities the right to seek deannexation, which provides that the citizens of
such an area must prepare and file a petition signed by two thirds of the qualified electors in the
area, and which contains some other provisions specific to deannexation, e.g., that no territory is
subject to deannexation which was annexed within the previous two years or earlier. 69 The
procedures are the same as for citizen-initiated annexations and are covered by the same statutes;
the petition should describe accurately the metes and bounds of the area sought to be annexed,
list the reasons why the public convenience and necessity would be served by the deannexation,
and contain a plat of the municipal boundaries as they will exist if the court grants the request. 70
This has been a little used remedy in the state. However, residents of the City of Jackson did
successfully deannex from the city. 71 In the Jackson case, all of the land sought to be deannexed
had been annexed ten years earlier in 1987, since which time, only one residence had been
constructed, one building permit had been issued, and one residential permit had been applied
for, but not purchased. 72 Only two businesses had existed at the time of annexation, but at the
time of the deannexation case, only one remained – a junkyard; no contracts for capital
improvements such as water and sewer as promised in the annexation ordinance had been
provided in those ten years; and Jackson failed to build the fire station previously promised. 73
The Court there quickly applied the twelve reasonableness indicators, and found the following:
Deannexation wouldn’t affect Jackson’s need for expansion or vacant land; population had
decreased; the area was not in Jackson’s path of growth; potential health hazards were of no
concern; Jackson was unwilling or unable to fund the needed services and infrastructure in the
area; Jackson had taken no action to provide those services; there was little need for zoning,
planning, or many municipal services as the area was largely rural and agricultural; the cost to
provide promised services was high and would be borne by the other citizens; Jackson had
extreme delay and very poor past performance in the provision of services; there were no natural
barriers; and residents of the area did not receive any benefit from the area to balance their fair
share of taxes paid. 74 This case can be a valuable lesson to counties, as well as municipalities,
which find themselves in an annexation or deannexation dispute.
COMBINATION
Two (2) or more cities may combine by following the procedures set out in Code, § 21-1-43. The
following requirements must be met: (a) the municipalities must be adjacent; (b) the governing
authorities of each city must adopt an ordinance; 75 (c) a petition must be filed in the chancery
court; 76 (d) the ordinance must state the name of the new city; and (e) the chancellor must find
the combination reasonable. The decree of the chancellor shall properly classify the new
municipality as a town or city. 77 190