CNN has a pretty long article on the topic. BerkShares, Ithaca Hours have the focus:
But creating a local currency isn’t easy. First, there are the start-up costs. Witt’s group spent $250,000 in grant money to create the BerkShares. There are costs associated with designing a currency, printing costs, the costs of educating residents and businesses. And maintaining the whole program is expensive. Witt estimates Newark could spend about $1 million in implementing a local currency.
