Find Out Where the Money Goes in Your County with Online Tool

The Tennessee Comptroller's Office is bringing even more transparency and accountability to local government finances with the relaunch of its Where the Money Goes website.

The online tool, also known as Transparency and Accountability for Governments (TAG), provides an easy-to-use platform where users can track revenue, expenditure, and debt information over time for Tennessee's 95 county governments. The information is pulled from annual financial and compliance audits.

The Comptroller's division of Local Government Audit worked with the state's Strategic Technology Solutions team to update the data visualization tool using Tableau.

The revamped site includes an interactive map of Tennessee and user-friendly dashboards that can be explored for more detailed information on sources of revenue, expenditures, and types of debt.

The site is particularly useful for elected officials, citizens, and journalists who are looking for simple information about a particular county's finances. It also allows users to quickly compare one county's financial picture to another's. For example, the site makes it easy to learn which five Tennessee counties were debt free at the end of fiscal year 2020.

"This site helps Tennesseans get a quick snapshot of how county governments are using their tax dollars," said Comptroller Jason Mumpower. "While an audit report will always provide the best insights into a government's financial activities, Where the Money Goes provides high-level information that doesn't require you to know how to read a balance sheet."

The Tennessee Comptroller's Office currently performs the annual audit in 90 Tennessee counties. The other five counties - Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, McMinn, and Shelby - were audited by CPA firms in fiscal year 2020. The Where the Money Goes site provides more financial details for the 90 counites audited by the Comptroller's Office.

To visit the Where the Money Goes site, please visit: tncot.cc/tag