Taxes: B'ham vs GP (Birmingham, Beverly Hills: house, school districts, property taxes)

[hemmie]

I know, I know... people are probably tired of this pitting of these two suburbs against each other! I'm sorry - please bear with me! Thank you. I keep hearing about all the fabulous benefits GP residents get for the very high taxes imposed on them (aside: I find this ironic, as a traditionally Republican stronghold... but I'll save that discussion for another day). But what about B'ham? I have noticed that property taxes are also extremely high there too, but I have not heard that residents there benefit from the same kinds of awesome personalized services, e.g. snow removal from driveways, garbage removal from the side of the house rather than the curb, etc. like the GP residents.

Can anyone clarify? Is it just that B'ham residents think living there is that much better that the higher taxes are worth it?

And, on a related note, why are taxes so much lower in the neighboring townships that still share school districts with Birmingham, (Franklin, Franklin Village, Beverly Hills) - are the city services in those places worse than in B'ham itself?

Thank you!