Bedford assessor outlines veteran credits, elderly exemptions and why residential values rose more than commercial in 2023

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 30%,” Irvine said. “Past practice has been if the values increase a certain level during a certain period of time, we're just going to coincide with the increases to our elderly or other exemption amounts.”

Irvine described several quantitative thresholds that govern exemptions: Bedford’s asset limit for some exemptions remains at $150,000 (excluding the primary residence) and the town uses an annual income limit tied to four times the federal poverty level. He said staff review applicant assets and have a five‑year audit cycle that can lead to adjustments if eligibility changes.

On commercial valuation, Irvine explained why the 2023 revaluation produced a sharp divergence between residential and commercial tax bills: residential assessments increased by roughly 30% and the overall tax-rate effect left many residential taxpayers with higher bills, while many commercial parcels did not experience similar valuation increases.

“For residential, look at the increases. They're most of them are well over that threshold,” Irvine said. “Our commercial property is much lower volume, but look at the increases. They're not most of them aren't hitting that red dotted line,” the assessor said, referring to analytics visuals showing the percent-change threshold the town used in the 2023 revaluation.

He outlined valuation methods: the sales-comparison approach is typical for residential; commercial and income-producing property often use the income approach, which looks at rents, vacancy, operating expenses, net operating income and capitalization rates. He showed examples of apartment and office valuations, discussed abatement work on specific properties and said sales evidence — when available — is reconciled into final assessed values.

Irvine also proposed improved public data access: a Power BI dashboard drawn from the town’s MS‑1 report (annual assessment report) and other data that would let councilors and residents interactively explore credits, exemptions and valuation trends.

Councilors asked about likely future trends and noted uncertainty. Irvine said he does not expect the same scale of residential increase seen in 2023 to recur in 2026 and recommended year‑over‑year analysis; he urged that staff continue to monitor equalization ratios and market data.

The presentation did not bind the council to policy changes; Irvine said the slides provide scenarios and costs if the council considers raising credit or exemption levels, and he recommended additional analysis and public-facing dashboards to inform future decisions.