Also, some of these improvements would take an initial investment that would pay off over time (and possibly lower running costs over time) but that doesn't mesh well with the "lower my taxes/starve the beast" crowd.
I’ve known people that have worked at the DMV on a temporary basis and they would get in trouble every time they got work done because they made regular people look bad.
The idea is is that if you can not fire a person, department, agency or whatever but you’re forced to use them than the end result will often be bad.
Basically the exact same reasons that most people hate HOAs.