Harrison County Veteran Services

Harrison County's Veteran Services Department assists residents who served in the armed forces and their beneficiaries. The county's page says anyone who believes they may be eligible for benefits such as compensation, hospitalization, insurance, or other aid is urged to contact the office for assistance. Two offices. The First Judicial District office is at 1801 23rd Avenue, Gulfport, MS 39501, phone (228) 865-4027 per Mississippi Veterans Affairs' county list. The Second Judicial District office is at 730 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, first floor of the courthouse, Biloxi, MS 39533, mailing address P.O. Box 413, Biloxi, MS 39533, phone (228) 435-8271, fax (228) 436-8649, email [email protected]. A county veterans service officer under Section 35-3-3 must be certified annually by Mississippi Veterans Affairs, and the certification requires attending an annual training program and passing a written examination; no officer is entitled to compensation for the service without it. The office is free to the veteran. The county's veteran resources page also names the federal installations in the county that a veteran may deal with directly: the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, the Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center, Keesler Air Force Base, the Coast Guard station, and the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, which is a federal home open to eligible veterans. Homestead and tags. Homestead exemption applications are taken by the county tax assessor between January 1 and April 1 under Section 27-33-31, as the State's disabled veteran homestead entry explains; the assessor's offices are the same two judicial-district buildings (Paula Ladner, Tax Assessor, (228) 865-4043 in Gulfport and (228) 435-8266 in Biloxi, [email protected]). The one-dollar disabled veteran plates are issued by the tax collector (Sharon Nash Barnett, (228) 865-4039), and the chancery clerk records discharges without cost. Those rules are written up in the State entries; the county offices carry them out.