in Mississippi

In a recent case, the Mississippi Supreme Court refused to apply this reasoning to an inclusion
case. In In re City of Oxford, 142 So. 3d 401 (Miss. 2014) there was only one resident in the area
sought to be included. She signed the petition and had moved out the area before trial. Thus, at
the time of trial no one resided in the area sought to be included. Despite the objectors claim that
all the residents moving out the area destroyed jurisdiction, the Mississippi Supreme Court held:
We also disagree with the Objectors' interpretation of Myrick. In Myrick, thirtyone
of the original petitioners specifically asked that their names be withdrawn
from the petition because they no longer favored incorporation. Myrick, 336 So.2d
at 211. This Court found that the Myrick petitioners had a right to advise the court
that “they had changed their opinion and no longer favored incorporation,” and
this was a fact that the chancellor should have considered in making his
determination. Id. Unlike the petitioners in Myrick, Babb never withdrew her
name from either Petition and testified that she wanted the property included
within the City of Oxford. We find that this Court's precedent supports the
conclusion that the Petitioners met the two-thirds requirement of Section 21–1–45
at the time they filed the Original and Amended Petitions for Inclusion. See
Fletcher, 77 So.3d at 96–97; *407 City of Ridgeland, 494 So.2d at 348; In re
Exclusion of Certain Territory from City of Jackson, 698 So.2d at 491; Boling,
241 So.2d at 362; Bridges, 168 So.2d at 41. Therefore, we affirm the judgment of
the chancellor as to this issue. at 406-07
CONCLUSION
It is highly likely that most board members will be called on to review the county’s position in a
municipal boundary case within the upcoming term of office. Clearly, the county has the legal
authority to object. Before doing so, the reasons for getting involved should be honestly
evaluated. A meaningful objection to an annexation will result in substantial expenditures of
public funds. Not only will the county make large expenditures, the citizens of the municipality
will be forces to expend substantially more to counter the county’s opposition. Expenditures that
could go to provide needed services and improvements are often made with little to show for it in
the end.
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