[Text of section effective in a city or town which accepts the provisions of 1990, 291.]

Section 18F. After consultation with the department of telecommunications and energy, the secretary of public safety is hereby authorized to make an assessment proportionally against each telephone company based upon the intrastate operating revenues of each said company derived from sales within the commonwealth as shown in the annual report of said companies to the department of telecommunications and energy. Said assessment shall be made at a rate to be determined and certified annually by the secretary of public safety sufficient to produce not more than three hundred thousand dollars in revenue for the fiscal year for which the assessment is made; provided, however, that if the board fails to expend in any fiscal year the total amount assessed for the purposes set forth herein, any unexpended amount in such fiscal year shall be credited against the assessment to be made in the following year and the assessment in the following year shall be reduced by such unexpended amount; provided, further, that in addition to said assessment amounts, the assessment shall include amounts, to be credited to the General Fund, equal to the amount of funds estimated by the secretary for administration and finance to be expended from the General Fund for direct and indirect fringe benefit costs attributable to personnel costs of the board. The funds produced by such assessment shall be deposited in the General Fund and expended, subject to appropriation, to provide for the operating expenses of the board.