The government in a tiny town in west Jefferson County is effectively shut down following a state raid, a battle with the attorney general over bingo halls and an ongoing feud among city leaders.

City accounts are frozen, employees are not being paid, and services for residents are ceasing in Lipscomb, home to about 2,000 people just outside Bessemer.

“As a result, all city services are now suspended and payroll cannot be issued for city employees until further notice,” Tonja Baldwin, the mayor of Lipscomb wrote in a statement made public and obtained by AL.com on Friday.

She confirmed the shutdown in an interview with AL.com.

“I had to take my own money to pay someone because I could not write a check to pay the man,” the mayor said. “It makes no sense whatsoever.”

A judge this week entered an order freezing the city’s assets and all of the money in its bank accounts.

The issue? Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is cracking down on electronic bingo halls, the small city’s largest source of revenue.

State agents arrived in Lipscomb on Thursday and raided Jay’s Charity Bingo, the same bingo operation that Marshall’s office previously shut down in August.

This week, Marshall’s office also sued to freeze the business’ assets and named the city as a defendant in his latest crackdown.

“Brazen disregard for the laws of this state will not be tolerated,” Marshall’s office said in a statement to AL.com on Friday.

The court order freezing the accounts is in effect until a hearing scheduled for Dec. 2 before Jefferson County Judge David O. Carpenter in Bessemer.

In Lipscomb, city hall is bitterly divided with council members blaming the mayor, and the mayor pointing back at them.

The city previously approved an ordinance allowing electronic bingo.

The Attorney General’s filing says bingo in the city represents “an illegal gambling enterprise that flouts the established laws, victimizes local communities, and amasses tremendous profits from illegal operations.”

Lipscomb’s original gaming ordinance was approved in 2012 and has been amended several times.

However, council members recently complained that the mayor has granted permission for businesses to operate without coming back to the council for input.

Councilwoman La Kendria Poellnitz, who has called for state intervention, still told AL.com the freezing of city assets is unfortunate — and blamed the mayor.

“I hate that it had to happen because we do have employees who are not able to be paid now,” Poellnitz said. “I don’t know what else they’re going to do from here, but she may try to blame it on us of course, but it’s not us, it’s her. She’s just not doing her part.”

The councilwoman said she expects city leaders will convene next week to discuss the crisis.

“We’re going to have to come to the table and figure out something because at this point if no money can go out none of the employees can get paid,” she said. “I hate it had to come to that, especially with people’s livelihoods involved.”

After legal wrangling and state threats, the mayor said she and city leaders met earlier this month on a proposal to change the city’s ordinance to specifically name paper bingo, but not electronic gaming. Baldwin said doing so would have protected the city from any state action, but the council declined to act.

On the other side, several council members for months have accused Baldwin of being a dictator who refuses to collaborate with them. Council members have frequently asked the attorney general to intervene in the matter. This week, he did.

Baldwin said the bingo operations brought needed money for the struggling city that was nearly broke when she took office in 2020. She said the games also brought the promise of spinoff businesses that residents have long wanted. The downtown commercial center is nearly barren with more long-vacant buildings than active storefronts.

“There are steps to this that you have to take,” Baldwin said. “You take that money and you use it to bring in other business. And we have investors who want to come into the city.”

But she said it all begins with having at least one stable business in town – the games.

Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson, whose district includes Lipscomb, called the bingo question a complex one. Yet, she said the existing gaming operations provided a needed revenue source for the struggling town.

“The taxes that come through the city and the council are not enough to keep them operating,” Tyson told AL.com. “Where are they going to get the money from without the bingo money?”

Tyson said services, including the town’s police department and garbage pickup are in peril. The county provides some assistance, including street paving and infrastructure, but Tyson said they cannot provide other essential city services.

“All of that is going to be dead in the water because there are not enough residents there to pay the bills,” she said.

Tyson urged council members to put aside personal and political grudges with the mayor to help solve the crisis that is choking their community.

“I believe in good government, fair government and the citizens of Lipscomb deserve better than what the city council is dishing out on her,” Tyson said. “All of them dislike the mayor because they all want to be the mayor. It is personal. It has nothing to do with the city business.”

Lipscomb has about 25 employees including its police department. The city’s next payday is supposed to be Tuesday, just two days before Thanksgiving.

Word about the bingo raid and its impact on Lipscomb were the focus of morning talk radio Friday.

“This is the harshest measure that I’ve witnessed since all of this bingo stuff started,” said Gary Richardson, host of the Gary Richardson Morning Show on WJLD Radio.

Along with his callers, Richardson, who is also mayor of the nearby city of Midfield, criticized what they described as a heavy-handed move from the attorney general. Richardson also said the state was hypocritical for allowing games in some places but not others.

“Is that an adequate use of the state resources, them going out trying to enforce misdemeanor laws?” he asked.