Bedford assessor reviews veterans and elderly tax credits, and explains why 2023 revaluation hit homeowners harder than commercial owners

Doug Irvine, Bedford’s town assessor, told the Town Council at its May 21 meeting that a mix of fixed statutory credit amounts and divergent valuation behavior across property types help explain why residential tax bills rose sharply following the town’s 2023 revaluation while many commercial property owners saw tax reductions.

Irvine said the town has long offered an optional veterans credit commonly administered at $500 even though the statutory “standard” credit is $50; Bedford has not raised its optional amount for many years. “Our credit amount has been static for more than a decade,” Irvine said, adding that because residential assessed values rose substantially since 2012, the per‑credit impact on lost revenue has fallen even as the number of recipients declined.

He reviewed the town’s recent action to increase elderly exemptions by 30% in 2024 to match a roughly 30% median residential assessment increase at the time, and said that asset and income limits remain important qualifiers for exemption eligibility. “The asset side … is $150,000 in total net assets, and we haven’t adjusted that in at least a decade,” Irvine said, noting the town maintains a public worksheet and will continue outreach to residents who may qualify.

Irvine also walked the council through how commercial properties are appraised differently. He described the income approach used for many office, apartment and industrial properties — deriving a value from market rents, vacancy and expenses — and said that during the 2023 revaluation many residential sale comparables pushed residential values up far more than comparable indicators raised commercial valuations.

“In 2023 residential valuation increases averaged about 30%,” Irvine said. “Commercial did not hit that level, and in many cases tax changes for commercial were reductions.” He gave examples of office and apartment analyses and described the limitations assessors face when commercial owners do not provide income/expense data voluntarily.

Irvine urged the council to consider scenario analysis rather than single‑number estimates and offered to build an interactive Power BI dashboard so councilors and the public can explore credits, exemptions and historical trends. He also said a five‑year audit process used by the Department of Revenue Administration helps verify continuing eligibility for credits and exemptions.

The council discussed whether to change credit amounts, asset limits or indexing rules and asked for further data about participation trends (how many residents take each credit) and the tax‑rate impact of potential changes.

Irvine said he will expand the town’s comparisons to peer municipalities, track annual MS‑1 reporting data so participation trends are easy to view, and provide maps and charts showing the share of tax revenue represented by each credit or exemption. The assessor recommended continued caution before altering eligibility caps because the number of new qualifiers after any change is uncertain.