LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by the mayor could force the Lincoln City Council to set a tax rate that would raise enough money to support the mayor’s budget next year.

A lawyer for Mayor Chris Beutler (BYTE’-lur) filed it late Tuesday afternoon. It’s aimed at settling the question of whether a council vote on the tax rate is purely ministerial and must correspond to the budget in place or whether the four Republican council members can set a different rate.

Beutler and the council Democrats have said the panel must approve a tax rate that fully supports the budget of record, in this case the budget Beutler submitted before vetoing the council’s revised version. The council’s Republicans have said the smaller budget approved by the Republican majority is the legal budget.