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Nashville-Davidson, Tennessee · Metro Nashville & Davidson County FY2027 Budget

Nashville — the money trail

$3,848,620,900
Nashville and Davidson County are one consolidated metropolitan government (since 1963) — one budget for the city and the county together. This is the tax-supported operating budget for FY2027, $3.85 billion, grouped by function. It is the Mayor’s Recommended figures (the footing table Metro publishes); the Council-adopted budget was about $1.3M higher — the exact adopted ordinance is on the docket. Metro Water Services is a separate self-supporting utility, outside this total. The property tax rate is $2.782 per $100 across the county (the urban core pays $2.814). Every function figure ties to Metro’s budget book and foots to the dollar. Click any number to see exactly where it comes from. Where the trail goes dark, it becomes a numbered issue in the docket. New here? Read our story or take the plain-words tour.
Cross-foots ✓ 7/7
The real money is in your city or town. With no county government here, the budgets that shape daily life — schools, police, roads, trash — are municipal. Browse every city and town →, and walk the ones we've ingested line by line.
Now you've seen it — say what matters. You don't write the budget; the people you elected do. But this is the record they answer to. Tell them what to lean into, or what to take a fresh look at, and why. Set the priorities.
✓ Sourced○ Cited◐ Partial⚠ Ambiguous✖ Dead end
✓ Sourced = cited to a document and the math re-adds to the dollar. ○ Cited = cited to a document, but the math isn't independently double-checked yet. Hover any mark for what it means.

Where it goes — $3,848,620,900 appropriated

▶Education (Metro Nashville Public Schools)$1,438,449,80037%✓ Sourced
The public schools — the largest single thing Metro funds, over a third of the budget.
▶Public Safety & Justice$852,927,60022%✓ Sourced
Police, Fire, the Sheriff, emergency communications, and the courts.
▶General Government$444,011,70012%✓ Sourced
Metro-wide administration and services.
▶Debt Service$441,319,30011%✓ Sourced
Principal and interest on Metro debt.
▶Infrastructure & Transportation$212,825,9006%✓ Sourced
Public works, streets, and WeGo transit.
▶Health & Social Services$208,189,7005%✓ Sourced
Public health and social services.
▶Recreation & Culture$167,478,1004%✓ Sourced
Parks and libraries.
▶Other$83,418,8002%✓ Sourced
Everything else in the tax-supported budget.