Conservatives have no problem stripping authority from cities and towns so that they maintain absolute power at the state government level. That's what Florida, Texas etc have all done, accelerating especially recently. It's always couched in specific terms and frameworks designed to make sure they're the haves and everyone else is the have not.
> Well, no.
Just because Florida, Texas, etc have lurched towards authoritarianism at the state government level in recent years doesn't negate the fact that a belief in limited government is a central idea in conservative thought in the USA, and has been for over a hundred years.