Tennessee town spars with the state over control of its finances: "We're going continue to stand up for the righteousness of this town"
Mason, Tennessee appears to be set for good fortune. Ford Motor Company is expected to build a new electric vehicle plant nearby, and with the automaker's arrival, Mason stands to benefit greatly from tax revenue and new jobs.
But Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower took over Mason's finances after years of alleged mismanagement and corruption.
"It's for the good of the taxpaying citizens who are getting nothing for the taxes they are paying," Mumpower told The Tennessee Holler.
In Tennessee, the comptroller approves or rejects municipal budgets and audits, and can dictate how a city spends money.
"We can't even pay any other bill over $100 without contacting them and them giving us permission," Mason's Vice Mayor Virginia Rivers told CBS News.
Rivers and Mayor Emmitt Gooden have been on the town council since 2016. Rivers said when they arrived they had a lot to fix after she said almost $1 million was stolen from the town.
Mumpower said his intent is to help the town repair its finances, but the town's attorney, Terry Clayton, frames the fight with the state in biblical terms.
"We believe that God doesn't put any more on you than you can handle. And he supplied David against Goliath. So we're going continue to stand up for the righteousness of this town," Clayton said.
Mumpower declined CBS News' request for an interview. He did provide a timeline showing embezzlement in 1995 and again in 2012; 20 years of late audits in Mason; and nearly $900,000 illegally transferred from the water and sewage funds into the general fund.
Though more than $600,000 has already been paid back to the funds, the comptroller is requiring the town to pay $9,500 upfront before they pay any bills. Mason has $248,656 left to pay back.
The town only has four businesses that it receives tax revenue from. Tennessee gave Ford a half-billion-dollar grant to build an electric car plant, not far from Mason.
According to local reports, the plant will create 33,000 construction jobs with a nearly $2 billion payroll. Once complete, there could be 27,000 jobs and Mason could benefit dramatically from that.
The announcement last year that Ford was coming coincided with increased pressure from the comptroller on Mason to get its financial affairs in order.
"Why couldn't he have come before now, before Ford comes in," Rivers said. "All of a sudden you want to show up and make these demands."
In court, town attorney Clayton joined by the NAACP asked for a restraining order against the comptroller, accusing him of discriminating against the majority Black-run town. The comptroller's attorney rejected that.
"It was White people that were there when all their money was stolen. Nobody showed up. That's strange," Rivers said.
Clayton said that the state's help is coming off as "heavy-handed."
"It's too heavy-handed, you come down here, you have a civil conversation and not come down here and threaten a municipality and tell the folks, if you don't give up your charter, we will go around you. Okay. That's a threat," he said.
The state comptroller talked to the town about whether they'd be willing to give up their charter and no longer be a town but the town said no.
The state can't force them to give up the charter. Now, a judge will decide next whether to tell the state to back off or not.
This comes as the corruption allegations continue after Vatisha Evans Barken, the former police chief in Mason, was indicted for allegedly falsifying her timesheets. CBS News could not reach her for comment.
