143-497. Article VII. Finance.

(a) The Board shall advise the governor or designated officer or officers of each party state of its budget of estimated expenditures for such period as may be required by the laws of that party state. Each of the Board's budgets of estimated expenditures shall contain specific recommendations of the amount or amounts to be appropriated by each of the party states.

(b) The total amount of appropriation requests under any budget shall be apportioned among the party states. Such apportionment shall be in accordance with the following formula:

(1) One third in equal shares,

(2) One third in the proportion that the population of a party state bears to the population of all party states, and

(3) One third in the proportion that the per capita income in a party state bears to the per capita income in all party states.

(c) The Board shall not pledge the credit of any party state. The Board may meet any of its obligations in whole or in part with funds available to it pursuant to Article VI(h) of this Agreement, provided that the Board takes specific action setting aside such funds prior to incurring an obligation to be met in whole or in part in such manner. Except where the Board makes use of funds available to it pursuant to Article VI(h), or borrows pursuant to this paragraph, the Board shall not incur any obligation prior to the allotment of funds by the party states adequate to meet the same. The Board may borrow against anticipated revenues for terms not to exceed two years, but in any such event the credit pledged shall be that of the Board and not of a party state.

(d) The Board shall keep accurate accounts of all receipts and disbursements. The receipts and disbursements of the Board shall be subject to the audit and accounting procedures established by its bylaws. However, all receipts and disbursements of funds handled by the Board shall be audited yearly by a certified or licensed public accountant, and the report of the audit shall be included in and become part of the annual report of the Board.

(e) The accounts of the Board shall be open at any reasonable time for inspection by duly constituted officers of the party states and by any persons authorized by the Board.

(f) Nothing contained herein shall be construed to prevent Board compliance with laws relating to audit or inspection of accounts by or on behalf of any government contributing to the support of the Board.