(1) Unless otherwise exempted under the provisions of Section 19-2-5, from and after October 1, 1989, each county in the State of Mississippi shall operate on a countywide system of road administration, there shall be no road districts, separate road districts or special road districts in any county, supervisors districts shall not act as road districts, and the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges in each county shall be on a countywide basis so that (a) the distribution and use of all road and bridge funds available to the county or any district thereof, (b) the planning, construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges, (c) the purchase, ownership and use of all road and bridge equipment, materials and supplies, (d) the employment and use of the road and bridge labor force, and (e) the administration of the county road department shall be on the basis of the needs of the county as a whole, as determined by the board of supervisors, without regard to any district boundaries.

(2) Any references in any statute to a road district, separate road district or special road district, or to a supervisors district acting as a road district, shall, as to any county which is required to operate on a countywide system of road administration, be construed to mean the county as a whole, if such construction is possible within the context of the statute; otherwise, any such reference shall have no force or effect with regard to any such county.

The State Auditor may, pursuant to a request from a board of supervisors in a resolution duly adopted by the board and spread upon its minutes, provide to the requesting board of supervisors his estimates of the cost to the county of implementing and complying with the County Government Reorganization Act of 1988.