Yea, it does seem like an excuse for the money raised by the church to make it into the local politicians hands.

However, this can be a legitimate issue. For example, New Haven, Connecticut, the site of Yale University, has become a notoriously crime-ridden area. It's not a very big place and something like half the property in the city is owned by non-profits (a few universities, a few large hospitals). Therefore the city's tax base is cut in half (US city revenues are largely from property taxes), but it still needs to provide infrastructure, police, public transportation, etc for everyone.

But it makes it seem more suspicious doing it like this instead of passing a new law that formalizes payments for services.