(a) A fiscal agent shall be selected to receive and distribute funds under this chapter.

(b) The fiscal agent shall be selected by the Commissioner of Public Service after competitive bidding. No telecommunications service provider shall be eligible to be the fiscal agent. The duties of the fiscal agent shall be determined by a contract with a term not greater than three years.

(c) In order to finance grants and other expenditures that have been approved by the Commissioner of Public Service, the fiscal agent may borrow money from time to time in anticipation of receipts during the current fiscal year. No such note shall have a term of repayment in excess of one year, but the fiscal agent may pledge its receipts in the current and future years to secure repayment. Financial obligations of the fiscal agent are not guaranteed by the State of Vermont.

(d) The fiscal agent shall be audited annually by a certified public accountant in a manner determined by and under the direction of the Commissioner of Public Service.

(e) The financial accounts of the fiscal agent shall be available at reasonable times to any telecommunications service provider in this State. The Commissioner of Public Service may investigate the accounts and practices of the fiscal agent and may enter orders concerning the same.

(f) The fiscal agent acts as a fiduciary and holds funds in trust for the ratepayers until the funds have been disbursed as provided pursuant to section 7511 of this chapter. (Added 1993, No. 197 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; amended 2005, No. 171 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2013, No. 191 (Adj. Sess.), § 33; 2015, No. 41, § 7.)