§45-36-140. Assessment and collection of tax; Fire Marshal; regulations; fire districts.

(a) The Jackson County Commission is hereby authorized to fix a county fire protection tax at a rate of 2 mills on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the assessed value on all taxable real estate outside the incorporated municipalities of Jackson County, excluding row crops and pasture lands. The tax fixed by the Jackson County Commission shall be based on the assessed value of all taxable real estate outside the incorporated municipalities of Jackson County, except row crops and pasture lands, as shown by the records of the Tax Assessor of Jackson County, and shall be assessed and collected as all other ad valorem taxes in the county. The Tax Assessor and Tax Collector of Jackson County shall not charge to or collect from the fire protection tax fund any fees or charges for the assessment or collection of the fire protection tax. The amount collected from assessment and collection of this fire protection tax shall be paid by the tax collector into the fire protection fund. The amount collected from the assessment of this tax shall be paid on October 15 each year and on the first and 15th day of each month thereafter into the fire protection tax fund. The tax year for this fire protection tax shall commence October 1 of each year and end on the succeeding September 30.

(b) The Jackson County Commission shall appoint to the office of Fire Marshal of Jackson County the President of the Jackson County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments. Upon the election of a new president of the Jackson County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments, the Jackson County Commission shall appoint the new president to the office of fire marshal within 30 days of that election. The Fire Marshal of Jackson County is hereby authorized upon approval of the Jackson County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments to employ or appoint deputy fire marshals, fire inspectors, firemen, secretarial and clerical persons, and other persons deemed necessary to carry out this section. The Jackson County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments is hereby authorized to operate the Fire Marshal Office of Jackson County on an amount of the fire tax fund not to exceed three percent of the tax collected. The Jackson County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments is further authorized to establish a budget for the expenditure of the fire tax funds which budget is to be passed by a four-fifths majority of the association departments present. The fire marshal shall also authorize all expenditures for equipment, property, real, personal, or both, or any other things deemed necessary to carry out this section. The duties of the fire marshal shall also be to coordinate fire protection activity within Jackson County which shall include coordinating all fire departments, fire stations, and full- or part-time employees of any fire department. The fire marshal shall also submit budgets and requisitions to the Jackson County Commission and shall authorize all expenditures from the fire protection fund. All expenditures shall be made to further fire protection in the various fire districts of Jackson County.

(c) The Jackson County Commission is hereby authorized, by resolution, to adopt, amend, and repeal regulations for safeguarding of life and property from the hazards of fire and explosion in the county, which shall be known as the Jackson County Fire Protection Code. Such regulations shall have the force and effect of law, and violators thereof shall be guilty of a crime and punished according to the law. The code shall be effective in all unincorporated areas of the county and in those incorporated areas which choose to come under this section.

(d) The Jackson County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments is hereby authorized to establish fire districts within the geographical boundaries of Jackson County. Fire districts shall exclude any corporate municipality which does not request through resolution of its governing body to be made part of and subject to this section. The geographical boundaries of the fire districts shall be within the sole discretion of the Jackson County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments.

(Act 83-630, p. 980, §§1-4.)