That's definitely what ends up happening—and it's probably what most politicians who support that slogan actually mean—but there are probably a non-trivial number of people who either only understand that phrase to mean "maximize operational efficiency" (without bothering to really parse what that entails) or genuinely don't understand that government should be a service, not a business.

It's historically laughable and demonstrably false, but I'm sure plenty of people still think that way, somehow.