16th Section Lands

Secretary of State

Rylie Ruhl

General Overview

•Also called Public-School Trust lands

•Controlled by Secretary of State

•Land Ordinance of 1788

•640,000 acres managed through 101 school districts

Most used Vocabulary

  1. Parcel
  2. Parcel Number
  3. S/T/R
  4. Land classification
  5. Lessee
  6. Lessor

Parcel and Parcel Numbers

Parcels are a physical description of said property to easily be identified by boundaries

Parcel Numbers are assigned by counties for identification purposes

Parcel Number for presented photo: 31-16-900-00-00101-

Section/Township/Range (S/T/R)

Townships are rectangular blocks of land that are about 6 miles square and are gridded and numbered according to their position north or south of the base line

Sections are divided 36 more ways apart of the township that are about 1 square mile. They are numbered from top right or northeast to the left and then down in an 'S' pattern.

Ranges are columns side by side dividing the township and are numbered and run east and west from the meridian through points of origins.

Land Classification

Land classification is determined according to the highest and best land use that will produce the maximum income from leasing. Below are pictures of eight of the ten classifications:

Not pictured: other land and school-use land

Land Classification (Left to Right): Catfish Farming, Oil, Gas, and Mineral, Recreational, Residential, Farm-Residential, Industrial, Forest, and Agricultural Land

Lessor, Lessee, and Lease 

A lessor is the person who leases out the land and the lessee is the person who pays rent on that lease. A lease is a legal contract between the State of Mississippi as landlord or lessor and the applicant as tenant or lessee where the Secretary of State, with the approval of the Governor, grants and transfers to the applicant the use, possession and control of specified public trust tidelands, for a determined number of years, with conditions attached, at a specified rental. The leasing process is initiated in the local school district. Lease terms are submitted to the Secretary of State for his approval and signature prior to execution by the school district and the tenant.​Below is an example of an Agricultural Lease:

All other lease forms can be found here: https://sos.ms.gov/public-lands/lease-forms

Agricultural Land Lease

How is rent determined?

Rent is set through bids advertised in newspapers for Agricultural land, hunting and fishing rights on Forest Land and mineral exploration and mining rights. All other land classifications are appraised and then the rent value set. Rent for leases granted upon application is set at the fair market rental of the land based on appraisal. Rents must be adjusted at least every 10 years during the term.

Importance of Data Organization

Data organization is important because it allows for easy usage within a company and its projects and better understanding of the data itself.

Going through countless counties and parcels and additional information and the size of this project received from the Secretary of State the conclusion has been made that:

  1. There is a lack of organization on county levels
  2. The amount of out-of-date data that is collected is outrageous
  3. Through the years of office changes, counties do not stay consistent in the manner in which the data is collected and when the data is collected, the way the lease numbers and the ID numbers assigned are extremely inconsistent

Internship Duties

    Matching parcel data from county tax assessor to data in ArcGIS through:
    • Legal Description
    • Acreage
    • Parcel#
    • PPIN
    • Lease ID
    • Assign GIS ID

Using the site below, matching parcel data within the SoS system to data collected is somewhat easy but there are times when there is very little information to go on:

Mississippi Secretary of State

16th Section Lands

 

Prewitt Farms

  • Classification: Agriculture
  • School District: Cleveland School District
  • Lessee(s): PREWITT FARMS
  • Lease Number: 9343
  • PPIN: 6473
  • Parcel#: 31-16-900-00-00101-
  • Effective Date: 1/15/2021
  • Expiration Date: 12/31/2025
  • Renewal Term: 5 years
  • Current Rent: $106,020.00
  • S/T/R: S16/T21N/R5W
  • Acres: 588.80
  • Legal Description: All cultivable land in Section 16-21N-5W, CONTAINING 588.8 ACRES, MORE OR LESS, LOCATED NEAR O'REILY, MS.

Ned Rushing Lease