The Green Bay Blueprint: Improving Property Tax Transparency
The Green Bay Blueprint is based on a simple idea: people deserve to know where their tax dollars go.
When families open their property tax bills, they should be able to clearly see how their money is being spent. That is especially true when money is being pulled from public schools and sent to private businesses instead. In Green Bay, local leaders took steps to make that happen, and it’s a model that communities across Wisconsin can follow.
The Green Bay Blueprint highlights this local success and shows how we can bring the same honesty and transparency to communities across the state. Every community deserves to have basic transparency right where they expect it. On the property tax bill. Dylan will be a Treasurer that works with and supports local leadership in getting that done in Wisconsin towns, cities, and villages.
What Is the Green Bay Blueprint?
Property tax bills in Wisconsin detail how much each household is sending to the local public school. However, in communities across Wisconsin, not all of that money is truly supporting the public school. For most districts, a portion of your tax dollars are backfilling money that is diverted to the private school voucher system instead.
You deserve to know how much of your money is being taken from the public schools and sent to the unaccountable, broken private voucher system instead. Most people would have no idea that they are directly paying for private schools through their public school taxes. That’s why we need real transparency on our property tax bills.
Local leaders on the Green Bay school board and City Council worked together to pass a common sense reform for their property tax bills.
Beginning with December 2025 property tax bills, Green Bay residents began seeing a new note that clearly shows the portion of the local school district levy used to fund private school voucher programs. This change gives taxpayers a clearer picture of local education funding.
It’s a transparency-focused reform that improves public understanding and accountability.
How Green Bay Led the Way
Green Bay’s progress was the result of intentional, transparency-focused local leadership:
In November 2023, The Green Bay Area Public School District Board of Education passed a resolution supporting voucher transparency and requested clearer disclosure on property tax bills.
In April 2025, the Green Bay City Council voted to include voucher-related levy information in the “Note” section of property tax bills.
Since December 2025, Green Bay Resident tax bills have included a new line in the notes section that provides specific numbers on how much the public school property tax sum is diverted into the private school voucher program. This change provides a more transparent, and truthful, look at where taxpayer dollars go.
State law already requires property tax bills to itemize levies related to capital and operational referenda. By adding voucher-related levies alongside this information, Green Bay created a clearer, more complete picture of how education-related property taxes are used.
You deserve to know how broken state laws for voucher programs are affecting your local schools.
Why This Matters
Property tax bills are one of the most direct ways residents interact with the government. When those bills are confusing or incomplete, public trust is undermined.
The Green Bay Blueprint improves transparency and strengthens public accountability while helping taxpayers understand where their money goes.
If Green Bay can do this, there’s no reason the rest of Wisconsin can’t!
A Model for Statewide Transparency
As a candidate for Wisconsin State Treasurer, Dylan Helmenstine is committed to improving government transparency and accountability across the state.
Local leaders and organizers are already working to bring this transparency to more communities. Communities such as Bayfield, Eau Claire, and Kenosha are already well on their way to implementing the reform.
As Treasurer, Dylan will use the office’s statewide reach and platform to support these efforts all across Wisconsin. As someone who serves on the school board and village board, he knows that communication silos can slow down important reform. As an active Treasurer, Dylan will be a partner in these efforts. He’ll provide examples from other communities, best practices to follow, and confidence in implementing these changes. Every community deserves to have basic transparency right where they expect it. On the property tax bill. Dylan will be a Treasurer that works with and supports local leadership in getting that done in Wisconsin towns, cities, and villages.
The Green Bay Blueprint represents the kind of leadership Wisconsin needs, rooted in local success and ready to deliver transparency statewide.