Town of Mason will continue its legal fight against Tennessee comptroller

Lawyers for the town of Mason said Friday they will continue to pursue a lawsuit towards the Tennessee comptroller above ideas to acquire financial command of the bulk-Black, west Tennessee community found 5 miles from the site of a potential $5.6 billion Ford Motor Co. plant.

“The city of Mason strategies continuing to litigate this issue until a satisfactory summary is reached which preserves the sovereignty of its elected management and complies with all rules and restrictions relating to its finances,” reported Van Turner, an lawyer representing Mason, who also serves as a Shelby County commissioner and the president of the Memphis NAACP chapter.

On Thursday, Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Anne Martin denied Mason’s ask for to problem a preliminary injunction that would place a momentary halt to the state’s economical takeover. Martin pointed out that underneath Tennessee law the comptroller has broad authority in excess of area govt operations.

(Examine More: Choose keeps state takeover of greater part-Black Tennessee town’s funds)

Martin did not rule on allegations manufactured by Mason’s leaders that the comptroller’s steps had been discriminatory and differed from the state’s approach to other, bulk-white community governments that have knowledgeable fiscal complications. Martin, a Democrat, claimed she experienced not been presented with plenty of evidence to rule on the allegations of racial discrimination.

Lawyers for Mason have noted that the comptroller to start with took the unprecedented step of asking Mason officials to relinquish the town’s charter, which would have subsumed the bulk Black and Democrat town less than the leadership of the bulk white and Republican Tipton County — just forward of an predicted financial transformation of the location accompanying Ford’s expense.

Soon after Mason’s leaders refused to cede their charter, Comptroller Jason Mumpower formally took management of Mason’s finances on April 4, citing a long heritage of economic mismanagement. His business office imposed a corrective motion prepare necessitating town officers to seek out approval for any expenditure of $100 or a lot more.

The corrective motion program features a $9,500 regular monthly reimbursement schedule to fork out down debt. Mason’s elected leaders have claimed that the ailments effectively take manage of just about just about every decision they make. About 90% of routine city expenses are $100 or much more and the $9,500 monthly personal debt reimbursement prepare usually means payroll and other standard capabilities of city govt could experience, they stated.

(Read through Far more: Town of Mason documents lawsuit versus Tennessee comptroller)

“The court docket recognizes the severe realities of the 2022 [corrective action plan] imposed on an administration that did not contribute to the monetary burden of the city and the pressure it areas on leadership to govern, but the court docket need to also acquire into account the state’s interest in going the town toward fiscal balance and a well balanced finances,” Martin wrote in a 23-webpage selection issued late Thursday.

The town’s legal illustration has therefore much been delivered by the NAACP Lawful Education and Defense Fund, which mentioned Friday it will keep on to signify Mason’s elected leaders at no price tag to the town’s taxpayers. The initial lawsuit, submitted April 1, alleged that the comptroller’s actions exceeded his authority and violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Modification to the United States Constitution.

An amended lawsuit, submitted previous week, extra Emmitt Gooden, Mason’s mayor, as an particular person plaintiff and Jason Mumpower as an particular person defendant. The first lawsuit included them only in their official capacities. The amended lawsuit, which was not tackled by Martin, is intended to conquer lawful limitations to municipalities suing for 14th Modification protections.

“The NAACP will continue on supporting the town of Mason in its lawsuit from the comptroller and will continue creating a report in preparing for when this make a difference is back in courtroom again,” Turner’s assertion stated.

Until eventually 2016, the greater part-Black town of below 1,500 people was led for more than a century practically totally by white elected officers. These officers resigned en masse when allegations of misappropriation of money came to light. Because then, Mason has elected only Black mayors its vice mayor is Black, and its Board of Aldermen is vast majority Black.

(Read through Additional: Ford Motor expresses problem about Mason, Tennessee, takeover by point out)

The comptroller and Mason officials have provided divergent assessments of how Mason’s additional recent management has managed funds.

What is undisputed is that officials, the two preceding and immediately after 2016, improperly transferred utility payments into the town’s typical fund, which is opposite to Tennessee law.

Court data demonstrate the town’s financial debt to its utility functions stood at about $290,000 in the 2018 fiscal year, then rose to about $700,000 by 2021. That financial debt now stands at approximately $260,000, a outcome of Mason officials shelling out down credit card debt in excess of at the very least a year’s period of time and a latest choice to steer pandemic-era federal funding to pay back down the credit card debt.

“We remind anyone that the fiscal mismanagement in the city of Mason transpired around 10 (10) many years in the past less than distinct leadership,” Turner’s assertion claimed. “This present leadership has not ongoing to mismanage the town’s funds but instead has worked to correct the problems that were previously produced.”

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