NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- I'm sure this could upset some of my friends in Metro government. But here goes.

VIDEO: Word On The Street (2/23/07)

How many of us get hit pretty hard in our pocketbooks when the annual Metro property taxes are due?

Some of us do but not all.

Last year, there were 10,700 Metro employees.

But 27 percent of them, almost 3,000 of them, don't have to worry about paying Metro property taxes.

They don't live in Davidson County but draw their Metro employee paychecks and pension checks.

For instance, there are 1,100 and 84 Metro firefighters.

Almost 45 percent of those firefighters live in counties other than Davidson where they get to pay lower property taxes.

I guess it's no big deal.

Some of Mayor Bill Purcell's top directors don't have a Metro address, either.

So who cares?

Apparently very few actually care.

In 2003, Councilman Luyde Wallace sponsored a resolution requesting the city to quit hiring out-of-county residents.

It was deferred indefinitely.

The next year Wallace sequestered a plan for giving Davidson County residences preference in hiring. This time council members adopted it, but apparently nothing happened.

In 2005, council members adopted a bill requesting that department heads and the Mayor's cabinet members be Davidson County residents.

That was ignored.

Metro's deputy mayor, until he resigned last month, lived in Williamson County.

Some of Purcell's department heads also live in other counties. It doesn't seem to bother anyone. It's only tax money for Metro's budget.