Cities are granted the right to impose taxes to raise public funds in Article II , § 29 of the Tennessee Constitution, which states: “The General Assembly shall have power to authorize the several counties and incorporated towns in this State, to impose taxes for County and Corporation purposes, respectively....” From this language has grown the public purpose doctrine, which dictates that public funds and public resources can be used only for public purposes. City credit may be extended and used for a public purpose, under which a private firm or corporation does receive benefit, but such lending of credit must be authorized by referendum vote or by specific statutory authority absent such a vote.

A team of MTAS staff conducted an evaluation of the digital assets made available to the community in each city across the state of Tennessee. The purpose of this study was to identify and document digital assets and resources being made publicly available in Tennessee municipalities, as well as to  identify any trends and municipalities who may require further assistance in this area. Cities were asked about assets and services such as free Wi-Fi in public buildings; public computer labs and kiosks; and computer training classes.

A total of 126 cities/towns responded to the survey. Respondents were evenly mixed across all three Grand Divisions of the state and included a range of populations from under 100 to over 150,000.