When the governing body of a department desires to consider participation in the award system, the governing body shall ask the board for a quotation of the approximate contribution to the award system that would be required by the department for participation in the award system.

An employee organization, recognized under the provisions of appropriate authority, may request the governing body of the department to ask the board for a quotation of the approximate contribution to the award system that would be required of the department for participation in the award system, and if the employee organization is willing to pay for the cost of that quotation, the department shall make the request. The board shall furnish copies of the quotation to both the department and the employee organization.

On request of the board, the department shall furnish the data concerning its volunteers as the board requires to make the necessary valuations and investigations into the experience among the volunteers.

The approximate contribution quoted by the board and the actual contribution to be made if a contract results shall be determined by actuarial valuations of the future service liability under the award system, on account of the volunteers involved in the computation, and in consideration of other circumstances that may be adopted by the board, upon recommendation of the actuary.

The approximate and actual contributions payable by a contracting department shall be similar to premiums under insurance policies. The approximate contribution quoted by the board to the department is subject to the contingency that the actual contribution certified by the board after the approval of a contract may differ from the approximate contribution because of any of the following:

Errors in a contract may be corrected through amendments approved by the adoption of suitable resolutions by the contracting parties. All contract amendments shall be made in the same manner as prescribed for the approval of the initial contract.