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Bedford assessor outlines veteran credits, elderly exemptions and why residential values rose more than commercial in 2023
Summary
Town Assessor Doug Irvine briefed the council on credits and exemptions, demographic trends in veteran credit take-up, asset and income limits, and walked councilors through how commercial properties are valued and why residential assessments rose about 30% in 2023 while many commercial properties did not.
Doug Irvine, Bedford’s town assessor, told the council on May 21 that the town’s most common veteran credit remains the optional $500 figure, though state statute’s base standard is $50; the statutory maximum the town may grant is $750.
“We are pursuing the optional at $500,” Irvine said. “If we were to increase that, that credit amount, I'm providing tiers, all the way up to $750 which is the current maximum.”
Irvine presented more than a decade of data showing the total cost of the $500 veterans credit has fallen as valuations and the number of recipients have changed; he also explained the town updated elderly and blind/deaf/disabled exemption amounts in 2023 to reflect a roughly 30% median residential assessment increase that year.
“The increase coincided with the 2023 revaluation in which the median residential assessment increase was…
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