Assessor presents credits, exemptions and commercial valuation data as council weighs tax impacts

The Bedford Town Council on May 21 heard a comprehensive presentation from Town Assessor Doug Irvine outlining the town’s property tax credits and exemptions and explaining how residential and commercial values were assessed during the 2023 revaluation.

Doug Irvine, the town assessor, told the council the statutory “standard” veterans credit is $50 but that Bedford has long granted the optional $500 credit; he noted the town could raise the optional credit up to the statutory maximum of $750. He said the overall cost to the town for the $500 veterans credit has been declining because of changes in assessed values and fewer eligible claimants. “Our common baseline is $500 for the optional [veterans credit],” Irvine told the council, and later explained that the total cost of the program has dropped as enrollment and relative cost per taxpayer changed over time.

Irvine reviewed the elderly exemptions the…