Any county, municipality or other political subdivision of the State and any agency or department thereof which has firemen it employs covered under the South Carolina Retirement System may become an employer and have such firemen covered under the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System by applying for admission to the System on July 1, 1976, or any subsequent July first. A majority of the persons then employed as firemen by the prospective employer must elect irrevocably to become members of the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System as of the requested date of admission.

Any fireman who is a member of the South Carolina Retirement System and who becomes a member of the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System as provided in this section shall be continued as a member under the provisions of the South Carolina Retirement System so long as his membership in the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System continues. Service credited to the member under the provisions of the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System shall be considered for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits but not the amount thereof under the South Carolina Retirement System. Any benefit under either one of these two correlated systems shall be computed solely on the basis of service and contributions credited under that System, but in determining the member’s average final compensation, his compensation received during credited service under both Systems shall be taken into account. Such benefits shall be payable at such times and subject to such age and service conditions as provided under the respective Systems; provided, however, a member shall not be eligible to receive retirement payments so long as he is employed in a position covered by the South Carolina Retirement System or the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System. Notwithstanding the above, the disability retirement benefit shall only be paid from and based on the benefit provisions of the System to which the member is contributing at the time of disability and shall be based on the total of his credited service under both Systems. The amount of accumulated contributions of such disabled member which is credited to his account under the System to which he is not contributing at the time of disability, shall be transferred to the System from which his disability retirement benefit shall be paid.

For the purposes of this section, "fireman" shall mean any person who receives his salary from an employer and who is required by the terms of his employment, either by election or appointment, to give his time to prevention and control of property destruction by fire. No fireman shall be eligible under this section unless his employer certifies to the System that his service as a fireman will require at least one thousand, six hundred hours per year of active duty and that his salary for such service will be at least two thousand dollars per year.