Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles sent a letter to Maury County Commission Chairman Don Morrow on Friday in which he vetoed the proposed Maury County budget for the next fiscal year citing the negative impact of the proposed tax increase as citizens deal with the Biden administration’s inflationary policies.
“I have spent a great deal of time reviewing the budget in context of the greater economic factors that are occurring in United States, from record fuel prices, inverted yield curve, collapse in commodities such as copper, and record low consumer sentiment just to name a few; some analysts are speculating that the impending recession could be worse than 2008,” said Ogles in his letter.
“I would ask that the County Commission to revisit the current budget and postpone building projects until such a time the ‘next’ county commission can fully measure the state of the economy and the impact a recession, whether mild or great, will have on our local economy, our citizens and revenues relative to indebtedness,” Ogles wrote announcing his veto.
Ogles noted his belief that the Maury County Library went woke this year and misused taxpayer funds in pursuit of “woke indoctrination.”
“Furthermore,” Ogles continued, “in June of this year the County Library went full woke exposing children to age-inappropriate material. Though the library is not run by the Mayor’s office nor run by the County but rather an independent board of directors, there are County taxpayer dollars used to fund the library. The library should be a place of learning and not a place of woke indoctrination. I will not sign a budget that includes funding for the Library until such a time measures are taken to insure this type of incident will never happen again and our children are protected from inappropriate material,” he said.
Ogles then officially invoked his veto power in his communication.
“Therefore, I, Mayor Andy Ogles invoke TCA Section 5-6-107 and veto Resolution NO. 06-22-15S2 pertaining to the property tax increase and Resolution NO. 06-22-17S2 pertaining to the County Budget. The aforementioned vetoed resolutions will be delivered to the County Clerk’s office this 8th day of July, 2022.”
According to the statement released by Ogles’ office, the Mayor’s veto can be over-ridden by a majority vote of the County Commission. Ogles says “he will not sign a budget with a property tax increase nor one funding the library without adequate protection against the sort of ‘woke’ agenda recently demonstrated and which is contrary to the values of most Maury County taxpayers.”
If the Commission overrides Ogles’s veto, it can become law without his signature and he has no second veto available as a response.
“I have never passed or signed a property tax increase during my time as Mayor and don’t plan to change that
now,” Ogles added.
Ogles is also a candidate in the August 4 Republican primary in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat.
Read the letter:
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
