Big cities I get are never going to change, and taxes just make the collection easier when you're threatening people because the population is too large to deal with

I see this more as a small town thing, and maybe it pushes for decentralisation because people would get a better deal/value for money. A local municipality is just another business in name only, they can charge a fee for that and if they need additional capital municple bonds are an option and you motivate for why you need the capital and get the community on board