Subject: Digitization of Land Records Grant Application is now available

 

Vermont's municipal offices that have been impacted by COVID-19 closures now have an opportunity to digitize their municipal land records, under a grant program created under Act 137 of 2020.

 

• The Coronavirus Municipal Records Digitization grant application is now live on the Tax Department website at: https://tax.vermont.gov/coronavirus/municipal-grants.

 

• The deadline for grant application submissions is September 1, 2020.

 

• Guidelines for the grant application are available here: https://tax.vermont.gov/sites/tax/files/documents/Digitization%20Grants%20Guidelines.pdf

 

 

Background

The Vermont Legislature has appropriated $2 million to assist municipalities in digitizing land records for online public access. The Agency of Administration, through the Vermont Department of Taxes, is responsible for distributing the grant funds.

 

The grants are being issued to provide economic support to town offices which have been impacted by increased customer demand due to the COVID-19 public health emergency but are otherwise unable to successfully allow those customers to search land records. Land records are defined in 24 VSA Sec. 1154.

The funds can be used both to pay necessary expenditures that municipalities face and costs directly associated to digitizing land records.

 

The Agency of Administration has set a grant cap of $20,000 and will review applications prior to disbursement to promote geographic equity in distributing the funds. The Agency has sought advice from municipal stakeholders to ensure that the grant cap will have a meaningful impact on the ability of the public to access digitized land records online. 

 

For More Information

Additional guidance on Coronavirus Municipal Grants is available here:

 

• The “Funding through Municipal Grants” webpage will be updated frequently:

https://tax.vermont.gov/coronavirus/municipal-grants

 

• Questions can be emailed to: [log in to unmask]