[06/21/01] Many Mississippi chancery clerks are facing the dilemma of whether to pay for mental health commitment costs for residents of other counties.

In a room at the Vicksburg Inn & Conference Center, several clerks asked that question during one session of their annual meeting to discuss their duties: If a nonresident files an affidavit, can the case be transferred to the county where the person is a resident?

Chancery clerks, elected in all 82 Mississippi counties have myriad financial and record-keeping roles. Chancery judges and clerks in Mississippi are also charged by law to intervene when people, due to mental illness, are dangerous to themselves or others. A mental patient or any interested person may file an affidavit with the clerk of the county in which the person is found to start the committment process.

A clerk may not refuse to accept an affidavit of a nonresident, but a judge can decide to move the case to the patient’s county of residence.

Heather Wagner, assistant attorney general for the state, said a person who usually resides and pays taxes in a county qualifies as a resident of that county.

Glynn Pepper, chancery clerk of Hinds County, said the situation of nonresidents filling affidavits in the Jackson area has been going on for years.

To his knowledge Hinds has never billed another county for a nonresident patient, he said.

If Hinds started to bill all the counties that have brought in nonresidents, then the counties would have to increase their budgets to pay the expense, he said.

In the past, chancery clerks have accepted affidavits from nonresidents, and their counties have paid the bill.

Pepper said this has become a greater problem in Hinds because of the increased number of commitments in the area.

“The problem is trying to make everyone happy,” Pepper said.

Warren County has experienced the same problem with doctors bringing patients in from other counties and trying to commit them, said Dot McGee, chancery clerk of Warren County.

The process is quite expensive, she said.

“We don’t think that we should pay for residents who live and pay taxes in other counties,” McGee said.

A person who commits someone in Warren County pays $545 which covers the fees for special masters, two doctors, an attorney and a Warren Yazoo Mental Health fee.

State law requires the county where the affidavit was filed to pay the secondary costs to the court proceedings, including but not limited to court costs, prehearing hospitalization costs, cost of transportation, reasonable attorney’s fees set by the court, and the proceedings commenced in those instances where the patient does not have sufficient funds.

If the patient does not have the money to bear the cost of the commitment, then the guardian files a pauper’s affidavit. If the chancery court determines that the patient cannot afford the commitment, then the county of the residence of the respondent shall bear the costs.

After the affidavit is filed, the clerk issues a writ directed to the sheriff to take into custody the person alleged to be mentally ill. The patient is then brought before a clerk or chancellor for screening and treatment by an appropriate community health center. Next, a chancellor or clerk will determine if the patient is mentally ill and will set a hearing within seven to 10 days of the filing. If the court finds the person to be in need of treatment and there is no alternative to the commitment, then the court will place the patient in a treatment facility.

The Mississippi Chancery Clerks Association 2001 Educational Conference continues through Friday with speakers discussing property tax and legislative issues.