1786                                       LAWS OF MARYLAND                                 Ch. 550

for and be admitted to membership; but no such employee
shall receive prior service credit unless he becomes a
member within the first year following the date of
establishment. Any unclassified hourly employee of the
State Highway Administration and any employee who is such by
virtue of his status as a worker on a county road system, as
hereinbefore provided, nay apply for and be admitted to
membership, and at the time of his admission to membership
shall be allowed credit for all prior service for the State,
and in addition thereto, shall be granted credit for the
period of employment by either the State or the county in
the maintenance of county roads, whether under the
jurisdiction of the State Highway Administration or the
State Roads Commission or prior to the time the State Roads
Commission may have assumed jurisdiction over such
maintenance. Provided, however, any such employee shall not
receive prior service credit unless he make formal
application to become a member within one year from June 1,
1943.]

[(5)] (2) (A) Notwithstanding anything to the
contrary in this article, membership in the retirement
system shall be optional with any class of officials elected
or appointed; or with any employees of the Governor's
office, or with any desk officer or employee of either house
of the General Assembly who receives an annual salary as his
compensation for such employment, who shall be deemed to be
an appointed official within the application of this
subsection. All officials elected or appointed on or after
July 1, 1957, may become members of the system upon making
application therefor at any time after their elections or
appointment and before the expiration of their respective
terms. All such officials shall be entitled to credit for
previous service rendered by them to the State, or a
participating municipal corporation, including service
rendered prior to the establishment of the Employees'
Retirement System. Upon receiving a claim for such service
credit from the official, the board of trustees of the
retirement system shall verify the fact of such previous
employment and the creditable service to which the member is
entitled, compute the amount due from such political
subdivision for which credit is claimed, and submit a
statement to the participating municipal corporation for
such amount, such computation to be based upon the
compensation actually received by the official from the
municipal corporation during the period for which service is
to be credited. The participating municipal corporation is
authorized and directed forthwith to pay the said amount to
the retirement system or to place it in the next ensuing
budget for prompt payment when that budget becomes
effective. The board of trustees is authorized and directed
to include any amount due from the State in the
appropriation allowed by the next ensuing State budget.

(B) Any such official who receives membership service
credit for service rendered to the State or to a
participating municipal corporation under the provisions of
this subsection shall pay to the retirement system by single