Whenever the state land commissioner shall need information as to the value of any lands belonging to or claimed by the state, whether the title thereto shall have been acquired by tax sale or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the county tax collector and the county assessor, in response to written inquiry by the state land commissioner, to make written certificate as to the value of such land and the improvements thereon, if any, to the best of their knowledge and belief.
Any assessor or tax collector failing to prepare and mail said certificates shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction shall be fined in any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) or be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding ten (10) days, or be punished by both such fine and imprisonment.
Miss. Code § 29-1-5