Right there's the nut of it. Government thinks that expenses are X and that they're static. Therefore, taxes must be X to pay for them.
Those of us in the private sector don't have the luxury of seizing money from our customers at gunpoint. That would be called robbery. Government gets to do it and call it 'taxes.'
When revenues don't meet expenses, we must do what it takes to make it happen. People lose their jobs or work for less.
It has been my experience that 'most' government employee types haven't the foggiest concept of how wealth is created. To them, the money falls from the sky.
And our static expenses are for services the city has voted for and expect. We provide a library which is a money hole that we're obligated to fund. We provide water, electric, sewer, trash pickup, street service, etc. All things the citizens want. And for "static" they sure did jump this year.
We're actually surveying the folks in our district to ask them if they'd prefer higher taxes or cuts in services. Our backs are against the wall. THey pay (me too) for what they want. If they want it bad enough they'll pay more. If they want to pay less, we're in a situation where we'll have to cut services.