(a) The office of Assistant Sheriff, Bessemer Division of Jefferson County, Alabama, is hereby continued. The duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and term of the Assistant Sheriff, Bessemer Division, shall remain the same as now provided by law.
(b) Whoever is serving in the office of Assistant Sheriff, Bessemer Division, on September 30, 1988, shall continue to serve for the remainder of the term to which he or she was appointed. Subsequent appointments shall be made in the same manner as is now provided and eligibility for return to the civil service system as per Section 36-26-32.1 shall be continuing.
(c) The Assistant Sheriff, Bessemer Division, shall receive all benefits that are received by civil service system employees and is to be compensated at a rate equal to three civil service system pay grades, 15 percent, higher than the total compensation received by the highest paid employee serving under the sheriff, except that the total compensation received by the Assistant Sheriff, Bessemer Division, shall be maintained at a rate equal to the total compensation received by the Chief Deputy Sheriff, Birmingham Division. Compensation for the Assistant Sheriff, Bessemer Division, shall be paid in equal biweekly installments out of the county general fund.