A board of county road commissioners in a county and the township board of a township with a population of 15,000 or more, and which in the prior year and the contract year will have levied a property tax of not less than 1 mill on each dollar of assessed valuation of the township for the improvement or preservation of county roads within the township, may exercise the provisions of this section only by entering into a written contract of not more than 1 year providing for the preservation by the township of all or any part of the county local road system within that township, subject to, at a minimum, the following conditions:

    (a) The contract shall specify the total amount of money that shall be annually expended by the contracting township for the preservation of all or part of the local road system. The contracting road commission may pay not more than 90% of the amount specified in the contract to the contracting township annually. The contracting road commission shall not pay more than 66% of an amount equal to the average annual amount of funds expended by the county road commission on the local road system located within the contracting township for construction and preservation purposes over the previous 5-year period from local road funds received by the county under this act. The contracting township shall match any funds expended by the contracting road commission on the local road system located within the contracting township in excess of 66%. The amount paid to the contracting township shall not directly or indirectly include money transferred from the primary fund allocation to the county under section 12(8).

    (b) The contracting township shall keep separate accounts and accurate and uniform records on all road preservation work and funds, and shall file with the state transportation commission and the contracting county road commission on or before April 1 of each year, on forms provided by the state transportation commission, a report showing the disposition of funds received and expended for road purposes.

    (c) The contract shall require the contracting township to provide insurance covering the contracting road commission’s liability for failure to preserve the local roads specified in the contract.

    (d) The contracting road commission shall determine and specify the equipment and personnel necessary to provide the preservation as set forth in the contract, and the contract shall not take effect until the contracting township has acquired the necessary equipment and personnel specified in the contract.

    (e) As used in this section, “preservation” means that term as defined in section 10c unless the contracting parties specify a different meaning in the contract.