MASON, Tennessee — The majority-Black town of Mason, Tennessee, which lies 45 minutes outside of Memphis, reached an agreement with the state Comptroller's Office Wednesday regarding its finances, taking steps to dismiss its racial discrimination lawsuit against the Office.
The town had filed a lawsuit against the Comptroller's Office in April, citing unfair requirements in the Office's financial corrective action plan that were "punitive," instead of "constructive."
State Chancellor Anne Martin had denied the town's temporary injunction request in April as part of the lawsuit, which would have halted the state's financial takeover.
The Comptroller's Office took steps to take over the finances of Mason in March, citing years of alleged financial misconduct and misappropriating money from the town's water and sewage fund, years before the town's current administration took office.
The town had previously taken steps to pay back around $600,000 in debt to their water and sewage provider before the Comptroller's Office took control.
The lawsuit stated that Mason, a town that's approximately 68% Black, was given unfair requirements in their corrective action plan than two previous localities - in worse financial situations - put under financial control; Jellico, Tennessee, and Van Buren County, Tennessee, respectively 93% and 96% white.
The agreement will see the Comptroller raising the minimum requirement for state approval for town expenditures from $100 to $1,000, giving the town more flexibility in their spending.
"We'll be able to operate our town a lot better with this agreement," said Mason's Vice Mayor Virginia Rivers. "This is definitely better than it was originally."
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The town will also see their mandatory monthly payments to pay back their water and sewage debt cut in half, from approximately $10,000 to around $5,000 per month, and weekly expense reporting requirements will instead be monthly, according to the agreement.
"This is a significant victory for the town," said Van Turner Jr., NAACP Memphis Chapter president, who represented Mason in their lawsuit. "Once they can put this behind them, they can start focusing on building for the economic opportunities of the nearby Ford plant."
The agreement also came with an end date for the state's financial control - August 31, 2022. Previously, the Comptroller would have had control over the town's finances indefinitely.
"We'll now be able to move forward with our economic development and rebuilding our infrastructure," Rivers said.
Mason sits just 10 minutes from Ford's Blue Oval City site in nearby Haywood County, which promises to bring 6,000 jobs and millions of dollars of economic development to the area.