Mississippi Treasurer

Mississippi Treasurer
General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
Term limits:	None
Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	Mississippi Constitution, Article V, Section 134
Selection Method:	Elected
Current Officeholder
Name:	Lynn Fitch
Officeholder Party:	Republican
Assumed office:	January 5, 2012
Compensation:	$85,500
Elections
Next election:	November 2015
Last election:	November 8, 2011
Other Mississippi Executive Offices
Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Treasurer • Auditor • Superintendent of Education • Agriculture Commissioner • Insurance Commissioner • Executive Director of Environmental Quality • Executive Director of Employment Security • Public Service Commission

The Treasurer of the State of Mississippi is the chief financial officer of the government of Mississippi.

The treasurer is responsible for maintaining the state funds by investing and maintaining the state budget. The department's main purpose is to invest state funds, to disburse funds for local bonds and taxes as needed, to ensure records are kept of all money transactions, to distribute unclaimed property as needed and make payments for the state as needed.

The treasurer is elected every four years.

Current officeholder

The current treasurer of Mississippi is Republican Lynn Fitch. She has served since 2012.

Authority

The Treasurer's powers and duties are established by Article V, Section 134 of the Mississippi Constitution.

Article V, Section 134:

A State Treasurer and an Auditor of Public Accounts shall be elected as herein provided, who shall hold their office for the term of four (4) years, and shall possess the same qualifications as required for the Secretary of State. They shall receive such compensation as may be provided by law.

Qualifications

Article 5, Section 133 of the Mississippi Constitution outline the qualifications for Secretary of State, which also apply for Treasurer:

... He shall be at least twenty-five years of age, a citizen of the state five years next preceding the day of his election, and he shall continue in office during the term of four years...

• at least 25 years old
• a resident of Mississippi for at least the 5 years before the day of their election

Elections

Mississippi elects treasurers to four-year terms during gubernatorial election years. For Mississippi, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015 are all treasurer election years.

Duties

The duties of the treasurer are detailed in the Mississippi Code and listed on the treasurer's website and are as follows:

• To invest and account for general, special, clearing and special purpose investment funds, as well as bond proceeds, according to specific legislated authorization and direction;
• To account for and invest trust funds in the custody of the Treasurer;
• To account for and disburse funds for scheduled payments on bonded indebtedness;
• To prepare all reports and maintain all records required by the Federal Tax Reform Act for calculating any required arbitrage rebate;
• To distribute proportionate tax revenues to counties, cities, and other taxing districts of the State;
• To monitor the cash position of all Treasury funds to insure that cash balances are invested immediately and sufficient cash balances are on hand to pay obligations as they become due;
• To provide a cash flow projection for the timing of receipts and disbursements;
• To identify and recommend to other state agencies the use of cash management techniques which speed collection and increase earnings on investment balances;
• To publish semi-annual GAAP report packages on all funds managed by the Treasurer for inclusion in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report prepared by the Department of Finance and Administration;
• To act as custodian of unclaimed property reported to the Treasurer and attempt to locate the rightful owners so that they may claim their property;
• To serve as Treasurer to the Mississippi Employment Security Commission;
• To insure that all State deposits in approved depository institutions are collateralized at 105% of the deposit balance according to statute;
• To serve as custodian for securities pledged to the State and its agencies;
• To annually approve and issue a commission to all financial institutions serving as depositories for State funds; and
• To process and pay all warrants issued by the State in payment of its obligations;
• The State Treasurer also represents the Executive Branch on various boards and commissions.

Compensation

See also: Compensation of state executive officers

In 2012, the Mississippi Treasurer was paid an estimated $85,500. This figure comes from the Council of State Governments.

Former officeholders

Since 1817 Mississippi has had 49 state treasurers.

Click "show" for former officeholders.

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
1	Samuel Brooks	1817	1818
2	Peter Schuyler	1818	1821
3	Samuel C. Wooldridge	1821	1828
4	James Phillips, Jr.	1828	1836
5	J.A. Vanhoesen	1838	1839
6	S. Craig	1839	1839
7	James G. Williams	1839	1839
8	Joshua S. Curtis	1840	1841
9	Richard S. Graves	1841	1843
10	William Clark	1851	1854
11	Shields L. Hussey	1854	1860
12	M.D. Haynes	1860	1865
13	W.B. Weaver	1865	1865
14	John H. Echols	1865	1869
15	William H. Vasser	1869	1874
16	G.H. Holland	1874	1875
17	M.L. Holland	1875	1875
18	William L. Hemingway	1875	1890
19	J.J. Evans	1890	1896
20	A.Q. May	1896	1900
21	J.R. Stowers	1900	1901
22	George W. Carlisle	1901	1902
23	Thad B. Lampton	1902	1904
24	William Jones Miller	1904	1908
25	George Robert Edwards	1908	1912
26	Peter Simpson Stovall	1912	1916
27	John Peroutt Taylor	1916	1920
28	Larkin Seyomer Rodgers	1920	1920
29	William Moseley Murry	1920	1924
30	Ben Shem Lowry	1924	1928
31	Webb Walley	1928	1932
32	Lewis S. May	1932	1936
33	Newton James	1936	1940
34	Lewis S. May	1940	1944
35	Newton James	1944	1948
36	R.W. May	1948	1952
37	Newton James	1952	1956
38	Robert D. Morrow, Sr.	1956	1960
39	Evelyn Gandy	1960	1964	Democrat
40	William Winter	1964	1968	Democrat
41	Evelyn Gandy	1968	1972	Democrat
42	Brad Dye, Jr.	1972	1976
43	Ed Pittman	1976	1980
44	John L. Dale	1980	1980
45	Bill Cole, III	1980	1988
46	Marshall Bennett	1988	2003
47	Peyton Prospere	2003	2004
48	Tate Reeves	2004	2012	Republican
49	Lynn Fitch	2012	Present	Republican

Contact Information

Mississippi State Treasurer's Office
PO Box 138
Jackson, MS 39205

Phone: 601-359-3600
Fax: 601-359-2001

See also

• Treasurer
• Tate Reeves

External links

Suggest a link

• Mississippi Office of the State Treasurer