Financial Management

Regional Flood Recovery Symposiums – June 4, 5, and 6

The Vermont Flood Recovery Office, in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will present a series of Flood Recovery Symposiums:

• June 4 at Stratton Mountain
• June 5 at Vermont State University Johnson Campus
• June 6 at the Vermont State House

Each event will provide similar content, so feel free to register for whichever location and date works best for you.

Representatives from federal agencies, state programs, and other supporting organizations will be on hand to present a range of opportunities to support flood recovery for municipalities, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Most importantly, these representatives will be available to speak with you about your specific situation, offer tips on how to navigate the system, and combine resources across agencies to help get your projects done.

Morning sessions will focus on municipal recovery, and afternoon sessions will be more business focused, but all the resource providers will be available at tables throughout the day.

Vermont Emergency Management (VEM) and FEMA will also be on hand to promote and discuss the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, including best practices for elevations and buy-outs. This will be a high-level overview of current efforts and opportunities, with progress updates and information about how to dive deeper with VEM support.

A workshop geared toward non-profit organizations will happen from 3:30 to 4:30 each day. This session will provide a high-level overview of federal assistance that may be available to 501(c)(3) organizations and those that they may serve immediately following disasters. In addition to the resilience information presented earlier in the afternoon, this session will help agencies to be better prepared for the next disaster event.

Click the links above to register or visit vtfloodrecovery.com to learn more.  

On November 28, Governor Scott and Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak announced the creation of the Municipal Climate Recovery Fund (MCRF). This $15 million loan program will support flood-impacted municipalities by significantly reducing the interest they must pay on short-term loans they take out to pay for recovering from the 2023 summer floods before FEMA payments arrive (which can take several months, perhaps more than a year). Operated by the Vermont Bond Bank with funding from the state, MCRF will offer financing that allows municipalities to refinance or finance flood expenses at a reduced interest rate as low as 1.3% for up to seven years. The program will save taxpayers in flood-impacted communities up to an estimated $3.5 million.

The Vermont Bond Bank is also partnering with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) on the implementation of the MCRF to further reduce interest rates on these loans for the members of VLCT’s Property and Casualty Intermunicipal Fund (VLCT PACIF) whose flood losses exceeded their insurance coverage. VLCT will subsidize applicants' interest rates to near 0% for as long as seven years, up to a total of $1 million for the group. 

"This is going to reduce the cost of debt so [recipients] can put more of that money into other aspects of running a town – they don't have to raise taxes or cut services [to regain the interest costs]," Brady explains.

• Learn more about the program at the Bond Bank's MCRF webpage. 
• View VLCT Executive Director Ted Brady speaking in the November 28 press conference (presenting at 15:44 and answering a question at 28:29).

The municipalities that are eligible for the additional assistance from VLCT PACIF are Barre City, Barre Town, Bolton Town, Brandon Town, Brighton Town, Cabot Town, Central Vermont SWMD, Chelsea Town, Chester Town, Glover Town, Hardwick Electric, Hardwick Town, Irasburg Town, Jeffersonville Village, Johnson Town, Johnson Village, Ludlow Town, Ludlow Village, Marshfield Town, Montpelier City, Richmond Town, Rockingham Town, Rutland Town Fire District 1, Springfield Town, Wallingford Town, Washington Town, West Haven Town, Weston Town, Wheelock Town, Williamstown Town, Winooski Valley Park District, Wolcott Town, Woodbury Town, Woodstock Town, and Wrightsville Beach Recreation District.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued the Obligation Interim Final Rule (IFR) to address funding recipients’ questions and comments regarding the definition of obligation. The Obligation IFR revises the definition of obligation in Treasury’s implementing regulations for the SLFRF/ARPA program and provides related guidance to give additional flexibility and clarity to recipients to support their use of SLFRF/ARPA funds. We advise referring to Treasury's two-page “Quick Reference Guide” which informally summarizes the seventeen-page Obligation IFR and Obligation IFR slide presentation.

The Subrecipient Annual Report (SAR) is required to be submitted to the VT Department of Finance and Management annually by all subrecipients of federally funded grants. Since your local ARPA award is federal funding, you must include it in this report.  

When you are completing the Subrecipient Annual Report, you must include only the  ARPA* funds that were expended during your fiscal year for which you are reporting. Here is what you should include for your local ARPA funds:  

In Section III - Subrecipient Schedule of Federal Expenditure:

• CFDA Number (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance) CFDA numbers have been replaced with ALN (Assistance Listing Number). The ALN for ARPA is 21.027.
• Granting Agency/Department - U.S. Dept. of the Treasury
• Grant Number - Use your assigned "Town ID" number which can be found HERE.
• Expenditures - enter your total ARPA expenditures  for the fiscal year on which you are reporting.  (DO NOT enter the total amount of your award or the total amount of cash you've received - you report ARPA expenditures only.)

*  If you expended any ARPA funds as a "subrecipient" of a grant from an entity other than the U.S. Department of the Treasury (ex. a grant from an Agency or Department of the State of Vermont), then you must also report these funds in the Subrecipient Annual Report and do so separately from your local ARPA funds.  They will have the same CFDA/ALN Number but the Granting Agency and Grant Number will be different. 

If you received any ARPA funds as a "beneficiary," then you do not need to include these funds in this report. 

If you are unsure whether you are "subrecipient" or a "beneficiary," please read this FAQ: What is the difference between a "beneficiary" and a "subrecipient"? and if you are still unsure, then reach out to the Agency, Department or entity that awarded the funds to your town/city/village.

Common Subrecipient Annual Report (SAR) Questions can be found HERE.

The State of Vermont has created a one-stop-shop for all State Fiscal Recovery Fund (State ARPA) programs that are available to municipalities as eligible applicants.  It can be found HERE. 

For each program this document provides the:

• Name of the overseeing state agency, department, or division
• Official program name
• Succinct narrative summary
• Point of contact name and email address
• Link to the website to learn more

This is an excellent resource for towns, cities and villages interested in leveraging their local ARPA awards.