The Federal Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CLFRF) was established under section 9901 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).The fund provides substantial funding to local governments. The U.S. Department of Treasury established two separate methods for local governments to request funding, depending on the type of local government.

Local governments that are NOT metropolitan cities or counties – called non-entitlement units of local government (NEUs) – requested funds through the State of Vermont. Allocations of funds to NEUs are based on the proportion of the population in the NEU as a share of the total population of all NEUs in the state.

County governments generally requested funds directly from the the U.S. Department of the Treasury through their submission portal. However, in Vermont's case, county governments are not considered unit of general local government and so amounts were instead requested from the State by the local governments within each county which included both non-entitlement units of local government (NEUs) and metropolitan cities. As noted in the Guidance on Counties that are Not Units of General Local Government, NEUs and metropolitan cities located in Non-UGLG counties that receive funds under Section 603(b)(3)(B)(ii) of the Act must have already accepted the award terms for payments made under Section 603(b)(2) (for NEUs) or section 603(b)(1) (for metropolitan cities). The State received a specific allocation of funds from the Treasury and calculated allocations based on population.

For both sources of funding, local governments received payments in two tranches, with 50% provided beginning in May/June 2021 and the balance delivered approximately 12 months later.