(a) The Department of Veterans Affairs is authorized to establish, implement, and maintain a program for providing financial assistance to the counties to assist the counties in paying the salaries and expenses of county veterans' service officers.

(1) Any program established and maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs shall provide for financial assistance to applying counties on the basis of one dollar ($1.00) of state funds for each two dollars ($2.00) of county funds provided for the payment of the salary and expenses of the particular veterans' service officer of the applying county.

(2) No county shall receive financial assistance under the provisions of this act in excess of three thousand six hundred dollars ($3,600) in any fiscal year. However, the financial assistance to counties under this section may be increased to a maximum of four thousand eight hundred dollars ($4,800) per year for those counties wherein the veteran population exceeds two thousand five hundred (2,500) veterans as reflected by the latest United States Department of Veterans Affairs report on veteran population.

(3) Assistance grants pursuant to this section may be made only to those counties employing a county veterans' service officer who meets the training and testing qualifications, scheduled number of work hours per month, and other qualifications prescribed by the Department of Veterans Affairs for county veterans' service officers.

(b)

(1) The county veterans' service officers shall serve at the pleasure of the individual incumbent county judge in his or her respective county.

(2) However, supervision, training, and testing of county veterans' service officers shall be the responsibility of the Department of Veterans Affairs.