(a) This Code section shall apply to county probation systems of all counties of this state having a population of 400,000 or more according to the United States decennial census of 1980 or any future such census, any provision of Code Section 42-8-43 to the contrary notwithstanding. The department shall participate in the cost of the county probation systems subject to this Code section for fiscal years 1982-83 and 1983-84. The department shall compute the state cost per probationer on a state-wide basis for each of the aforesaid fiscal years pursuant to the formula used by the Office of Planning and Budget to determine the state cost for probation for budgetary purposes. For each of the aforesaid fiscal years, the department shall pay to the governing authority of each county maintaining a county probation system subject to this Code section the percentage shown below of the state-wide cost per probationer for each probationer being supervised under the respective county probation system as of the first day of each of said fiscal years:

(1) For fiscal year 1982-83, 10 percent; and

(2) For fiscal year 1983-84, 10-100 percent.

(b) The funds necessary to participate in the cost of county probation systems under subsection (a) of this Code section shall come from funds appropriated to the department for the purposes of providing state participation in the cost of county probation systems. The payments to counties provided for in subsection (a) of this Code section shall be made by, or pursuant to the order of, the department in single lump sum payment for each fiscal year, with the payment for fiscal year 1982-83 being made by May 1, 1983, and the one for fiscal year 1983-84 by May 1, 1984. As a condition necessary for a county to qualify for department participation in the cost of the county's probation system, the employees of such county probation systems shall be subject to the supervision, control, and direction of the department.

(c) Each county probation system subject to the provisions of this Code section shall become a part of the state-wide probation system provided for by this article effective on July 1, 1984, and shall be fully funded from state funds as a part of the state-wide probation system beginning with fiscal year 1984-85. The employees of said county probation systems, at their option, shall become employees of the department on the date said county systems become a part of the state-wide probation system and, on or after said date, said employees shall be subject to the salary schedules and other personnel policies of the department, except that the salaries of such employees shall not be reduced as a result of becoming employees of the department.

(d) When an employee of a county probation system of any county of this state having a population of 550,000 or more according to the United States decennial census of 1980 or any future such census becomes an employee of the department pursuant to subsection (c) of this Code section at the same or a greater salary, the change in employment shall not constitute involuntary separation from service or termination of employment within the meaning of any local retirement or pension system of which the employee was a member at the time of such change in employment, and the change in employment shall not entitle the employee to begin receiving any retirement or pension benefit whatsoever under any such local retirement or pension system.