The other day in the Pioneer Press, the story just below the story about the abysmal condition of St. Paul’s city streets was the news that the Ramsey County Board is seeking a 10 percent levy increase to fund equity and inclusion initiatives. At the most recent board meeting, the initiative was given a name, “transforming systems together.”

The initiative would require another director-level position, two employees and a $3 million budget by 2021 to “incent, change and fund approaches to strengthen communities and reduce the need for justice system responses.”

“We are asking for and are interested in the public’s comments and questions,” John Siqveland, Ramsey County spokesman, said when I asked him if there would be a mass news conference to get to the bottom off this.

No, but public comments and questions are welcome and I would suggest that if you don’t pipe up, you will get what you deserve, another hike in your taxes.

OK. Questions and comments.

How did this initiative originate and is there evidence that this, whatever it is, actually accomplishes anything? What exactly will be measured?

A new director-level position, two employees and $3 million are needed to “incent.” Again, by what standards will this be measured? Or, what will be measured to ensure success?

Also, the board wants to create a 16-member committee composed of eight county staffers representing departments from social services to public health to county courts and eight community members. Members will figure out how to restructure the county and how residents use and are affected by its services.

“You cannot improve outcomes without a conversation about race,” Ryan O’Connor, Ramsey County manager, said. “The question becomes: Where does the strategy for work come from, and how do we become aligned to that?”

What?

For those of us not in government work, could you, Mr. O’Connor, come up with a sentence that we might understand? What outcomes do you desire? That isn’t too much to ask, given that you want to place another hit on the taxpayers. Just speak English, if that does not constitute insensitivity.

Additionally, the county wants to hire a third “racial and health equity administrator” and put $1 million into community-engagement efforts, in order to reach the minority and low-income communities they don’t typically talk to.

Who is they, the county employees? Isn’t this tantamount to saying that the two racial and health equity administrators we already have haven’t been doing their job, if the job is to talk to low-income and minority communities?

During the board meeting last week, policy and planning director Elizabeth Tolzmann said the county needed “to be creative in spaces where there is the most discomfort.”

Ms. Tolzmann, please, for the love of God, tell us what that means, because it sounds like it means everything or nothing at all. Do you talk like that at home?

It seems axiomatic that the more difficult it is to explain a new government program or provide evidence for its need, the more expensive it is. Included in the Ramsey County budget is an $11 million increase, from $59 million to $70 million, in the county’s “administrative and general county purposes” costs. Included in that total is the county manager’s office, which is slated to get an additional 12.5 full-time employees, from 117 to 130, in part to support the new initiatives, according to Lee Mehrkens, the county’s chief financial officer. Related Articles Soucheray: Defund the police! Wait, where’d the police go?

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Wouldn’t it be neat if you could snap your fingers and come up with another $11 million for your family’s general purposes costs?

Remember, this was the story below the story about St. Paul’s city streets grading on a scale with the streets in, oh, I don’t know, maybe Yemen.

Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucheray’s “Garage Logic” podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com.