Cities need a lot of things - should they fund everything?
Whether they should or shouldn't is a worthy question that they have no influence over. Taking the initiative and supporting the software they rely on is a good step in the meantime while we argue on HN about whether it's optimal or not.
Nobody whines when they overpay millions to Microsoft for trash software. Fund one tiny project and everybody loses their mind.
Yes, because if they need them, they won't function without them
Yes.
yes
Would you consider a city buying a Microsoft Office E3 license (Copilot 365 or whatever the fuck its called) for their staff an efficient use of taxes?