How are government sponsored protectionist laws like this even legal? It's very frustrating.

Edit: For further context, both towns wanted the service, which makes it even more frustrating. If Wilson made its service private there'd be no issue.

Can a private enterprise be government owned? I guess not? How about a tiny startup with one person operating billing and they call it a "private-public partnership"?

I'm grasping at straws, I realize.