The Reminder — The City Council approved adopting the provision to the HERO Act that will increase the property tax exemption available to qualified disabled veterans to as much as $2,000.
The HERO Act, which was adopted by the state legislature in August 2024, is a comprehensive and expansive legislative package dedicated to the welfare of veterans in Massachusetts.
Since its filing, additional provisions have been added by the Senate and House to create over 30 provisions, including spending, policy initiatives, tax credits and statute changes, organized into four categories.
Chicopee City Assesor Laura McCarthy was at the meeting to explain the provision. She explained that the city files an accounting of the exemption the assessors do for veterans, elderly and disabled at the end or April and needed to see what those numbers were in order give an estimate of the cost.
Right now, veterans receive exemptions depending on their disability, anywhere between $400 and $1,000 off their real estate tax bill.
McCarthy said “most” of the veterans are in the $400 range.
The adoption of this HERO Act section would double the real estate tax exemption range, so it would be $800, up to $2,000, that would be exempted from the property tax bill.
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Besides thanking the city assessors for their work with the adoption of this provision, Mayor John Vieau also wanted to thank state Sen. John Velis (D-Westfield) who was a veteran himself and introduced the bill.
Vieau said, “I also wanted to take a quick moment to give a plug out to our Senator John Velis who spearheaded this bill, which became a law and is really taking care of our disabled veteran community. I’m really excited to see we’re adopting it.”
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