Colorado has entities called Metropolitan Districts and there are over 1,900 of them in the state. They were designed to pay for roads, sidewalks, sewer and water lines and they can issue bonds and levy taxes. In some cases they operate well, but in others there are outrageous abuses.
They can be formed by developers who initially have total control over spending. Then the homeowners who buy homes in the district are stuck with huge property tax bills. For example, Coal Creek, in Aurora, has 5 metro districts that borrowed $192 million. Only 6 people, all developers, voted to authorize the debt in 2015.
There are master and servant districts. In this arrangement, a tiny piece of land is the master, and it is subdivided microscopically so a handful of people control the master, which controls the spending. The servant districts have to pay for the taxes but don't get to vote.
The Denver Post has written extensively about the problems but the articles are all behind a paywall.
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