(a) Each assessor and tax collector shall appoint a sufficient number of deputies to assist him in carrying out the duties of his office and fix their compensation, subject to the budget for the assessor and tax collector’s office approved by the county board of supervisors. No deputy shall receive a salary which exceeds the salary of the assessor and tax collector. Each deputy assessor shall give bond for the faithful discharge of his duties as provided in Section 27-1-3. Each deputy tax collector shall give bond to be payable, conditioned and approved as provided by law in an amount not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) for the faithful discharge of his duties.

(b) The assessor and tax collector shall, at the July meeting of the board of supervisors, submit a budget of estimated expenses of his office for the ensuing fiscal year beginning October 1 in such form as shall be prescribed by the Director of the State Department of Audit. The board shall examine this proposed budget and determine the amount to be expended by the assessor and tax collector in the performance of his duties for the fiscal year and may increase or reduce said amount as it deems necessary and proper.

The budget shall include amounts for compensating deputies and other employees of the assessor and tax collector’s office, for travel and transportation expenses of the assessor and tax collector and deputies, for theft insurance premiums, for equipment and supplies of his office, and for such other expenses as may be incurred in the performance of the duties of his office. In addition, the budget shall include amounts for the payment of premiums on bonds and other insurance for the assessor and tax collector and his deputies which, in the opinion of the board of supervisors, are deemed necessary to protect the interests of the county, or the assessor and tax collector and his deputies. Such amounts may include official bonds and any bonds required of his deputies by the assessor and tax collector; fire and other hazards insurance; and hospitalization insurance as provided for in Sections 25-15-101 and 25-15-103, Mississippi Code of 1972.

(c) The board of supervisors shall, at its first meeting of each quarter beginning on October 1, January 1, April 1, and July 1, appropriate a lump sum for the assessor and tax collector for the expenses of his office during the current quarter. The quarterly appropriation shall be one-fourth (¼) of the amount approved in the annual budget unless the assessor and tax collector requests a different amount. Except in case of emergency, as provided in the county budget law, the appropriation for the quarter beginning in October of the last year of the assessor and tax collector’s term shall not exceed one-fourth (¼) of the annual budget.

(d) The assessor and tax collector shall file a report of all expenditures of his office during the preceding month with the board of supervisors for approval at its regular monthly meeting in a form to be prescribed by the Director of the State Department of Audit and upon filing thereof and approval by the board, the clerk of the board shall issue warrants in payment thereof but not to exceed the budget appropriation for that quarter. Any appropriated funds which are unexpended at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the county general fund.

(e) The budget for the assessor and tax collector’s office may be revised at any regular meeting by the board of supervisors; and upon recommendation of the assessor and tax collector, the board may at any regular meeting make supplemental appropriations to his office.

(f) The budget for the assessor and tax collector’s office may include amounts to cover necessary expenses to provide equipment and personnel to file, store, retain or reproduce all records, filings or documents using microfilm, microfiche, data processing, computers, magnetic tape, optical discs or any other electronic process which correctly and legibly stores and reproduces or which forms a medium for storing, copying or reproducing documents, files and records.