Southbridge Veterans’ Property Tax Exemptions (Clauses 22 to 22F)

The Town of Southbridge grants the veterans’ exemptions of G.L. c. 59, s. 5, clauses 22 to 22F, through its board of assessors. The statute sets them as dollars off the tax bill, $400 under clause 22, $750, $1,250 and $1,500 under 22A to 22C and $1,000 under 22E, and exempts the whole domicile under 22D and 22F; a town can add to them only by accepting a local option, clause 22I, clause 22J or section 5C½. Every figure on this entry carries its source and the day it was read. The assessors’ Exemptions Fiscal Year 2027 brochure gives the veterans’ clauses as “Town has adopted Clauses 22I & 22J” with an amount “From $823 to a full exemption depending on the nature and extent of eligibility”. $823 is the statute’s $400 with the fiscal 2026 adjustment of 2.9 per cent, raised 100 per cent: one year’s adjustment on the doubled figure, where raised by fiscal 2027’s 2.7 per cent as well the range would start at $845. The brochure is the town’s own record of the adoption. The brochure’s residence test asks for five years’ Massachusetts residence or six months’ domicile before entering the service, the older wording; the statute now asks two consecutive years before filing. The town’s site serves from ci.southbridge.ma.us, where southbridgemass.org is now a parked domain. Chapter 115 benefits, the Commonwealth’s needs-based help with rent, food, fuel and medical costs, are applied for through Southbridge Veterans’ Services: Keith Roberts. Their amounts are set by the Commonwealth and are the same in every city and town; the statewide chapter 115 entry describes them.