NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Channel 4 I-Team reported that hundreds of city workers are commuting on taxpayer dollars.

Video: Tax Money Pays Gas, Car Expenses For Some Metro Workers

According to the I-Team, more than 800 workers use a car that the city provides, and residents are not just paying for cars and gas for emergency responders but also some clerks and water department employees.

With gas prices rolling anywhere but down, imagine having a car and gas paid for. For 858 workers in Nashville, that's their reality, according to city records obtained by the I-Team.

"If it was a furnished vehicle and fuel, it would be quite a bit saved; at least $300 a week," said one Nashville driver.

The majority of the workers are police, but Mayor Karl Dean said he wants all departments to slash their take-home car fleet by 10 percent.

"If we have too many of them, then we're going to cut back on thAT. So, we need to tighten our belts, and we're doing that," Dean said.

While people might expect police and fire chiefs to have take-home cars -- just in case they're needed at an emergency -- the register of deeds also has a take-home car, according to city records.

Twenty-four employees of the water department also had cars up until this month, and a number of city and county clerks have take-home cars as well.

"Why does a clerk need a take-home car?" the I-Team's Jeremy Finley asked Davidson County Clerk John Arriola.

"Everybody's is on a 24-7 kind of call. ... So, you never really know once you're on a 24-7 call, you're open for most anything," he said.

But some departments are already making cuts. The water department just took away 18 cars and gas privileges, and the fire department cut its take-home car privilege for 20 workers on Monday.

"Cost of fuel, and it's just going through the roof, and we're in a very challenging economic time," said Nashville Fire Department Chief Steve Halford.

Even those departments who've taken away take-home cars said their employees did need them.

For example, with the water department, a spokeswoman said the 18 people who had the cars are engineers who used them to travel back and forth to sites. The register of deeds said he also is on call 24 hours a day.

The rule to get a take-home car states that workers either must be required to respond to an emergency or it must clearly be in their job requirements.

The clerks said if they're on call 24 hours a day even for late filing situations, they need a car.