There's a movement to have motorists pay by the mile for travel on state roads. I guess the same pay-per-usage rational could be made for fire and police service. You only pay if you have a fire or if you're the victim of a crime. If you pay a little more you get preferential response. Maybe we could introduce a monthly subscription fee model with rollover service.

Of course, I'm being facetious.

It sounds like 'pay as you go' could make sense economically but it isn't really what people want, and for good reason. Lots of people would fall through the cracks and isn't minimizing that what government is all about? Free-market and commonwealth mean very different things. There's a place for the former, but not in the realm of critical public needs.