Mayor Genrich’s “Unity” Photo-Op Distracts from Green Bay’s Tax Hikes, Crumbling Roads, Rising Crime, and Surging Homelessness
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While Green Bay families grapple with a 4.7% property tax rate increase to $8.12 per $1,000 of home value in 2025 - and another proposed 3% jump to $8.37 for 2026 - Mayor Eric Genrich is wasting time on a staged press conference to push a symbolic, non-binding resolution “affirming support” for the Somali-American community.
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This isn’t leadership; it’s deflection. Green Bay residents are dealing with:
- Skyrocketing school taxes, with the district’s levy up 5% to $114 million, contributing to a projected $3.6 million budget deficit for 2025-26
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Ongoing road disrepair, with 43% of major roads rated poor—costing drivers $1,600 annually in extra repairs—and a $19 million slash from the 2025 Capital Improvement Plan, gutting planned reconstructions from eight to just one
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An 18% spike in crimes against persons in 2024 (1,732 cases vs. 1,466 in 2023), alongside police response times that have slowed since 2020 due to chronic staffing shortages, even as the city claims a balanced $139.4 million budget for 2025
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Surging homelessness in Brown County, hitting a record 643 people in January 2025 - up 15% from 2022 - with unsheltered individuals nearly tripling over recent seasons and nearly 560 experiencing homelessness nightly as of December 2025
If Mayor Genrich has bandwidth for last-minute media events and feel-good resolutions, he should explain why taxpayers are footing higher bills while infrastructure crumbles, crime against individuals rises, and homelessness reaches new highs.
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Green Bay’s Somali-American residents deserve real action on shared priorities like affordable living, safe neighborhoods, and ending homelessness - not performative gestures that import identity politics to mask administrative shortcomings.
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This resolution isn’t unity; it’s a headline grab.
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Republican Party of Brown County
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