(Radio Iowa) – Veterans groups are urging legislators to increase a tax break for veterans. A property tax exemption worth 18-hundred-52 dollars is available to veterans who served in a war or were on active duty during peacetime for at least 18 months. Iowa Veterans Affairs Commission chair Elizabeth Ledvina says the exemption reduces the assessed value of a veteran’s home. “There’s not been an improvement or an increase of that since 1974,” she says, “so we feel it’s very important.”

The commission is also calling for more money in the fund that provides grants to first-time home buyers who’re veterans of the first Gulf War in the early 1990s or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in this century. Each grant is worth five-thousand dollars and Ledvina says there are often more applicants than grants available. “It’s a great thing to move to Iowa and get these benefits,” Ledvina says. “so we need more support to further fund that Home Ownership Grant for our veterans and our service members coming back into the State of Iowa.”

The grants may be used to cover down-payments and closing costs on a home, townhouse or condo that will be the veteran’s primary residence.