On Monday, State Senator Michelle Hinchey (D-46) and Assemblymember Kevin Cahill (D-103) announced that Governor Kathy Hochul had signed off on their law authorizing Ulster County to offer Deputy Sheriffs Kyle Frano, Joseph Sciutto, and Emmett Vedder the ability to enroll in a pension plan that allows for retirement after 20 years of service.

According to the release, these three deputies were unable to apply in time to participate in the county’s retirement plan “through no fault of their own,” which has made them ineligible to enlist for over a decade. The legislation (Senate Bill S4343) now authorizes the county to offer an optional 20-year retirement plan for these deputies.

All costs associated with the legislation will be absorbed by the county.

Senator Michelle Hinchey said, “Deputy Sheriffs Kyle Frano, Joseph Sciutto, and Emmett Vedder III have honorably served and protected our Ulster County communities throughout their careers. I was proud to work on their behalf, with the support of my colleagues in state and local government, to rectify a clerical error preventing them from accessing the pension benefits available to them. I thank Governor Hochul for signing our bill into law, which gives us the opportunity to finally right this wrong and provides these hard-working deputies the full pension benefits they deserve.”

Assemblyman Kevin A. Cahill, said, “This legislation corrected an important error that threatened to deprive three hard working deputies of their full pension. Through special state legislation we were able to correct a decades old mistake and, as a result, these law enforcement officers and their families will get their due. A special thanks to Detective Mario Tagliafierro, President of the Ulster County Deputy Sheriff’s Police Benevolent Association for all of his hard work in ushering this through the complicated process. Working together, with Detective Tagliaferro, Sheriff Juan Figueroa, and the Ulster County government, we fixed what was broken.”

Detective Mario Tagliafierro said, "On behalf of Deputy Sheriffs Emmett Vedder III, Joseph Sciutto, and Kyle Frano, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Senator Michelle Hinchey, Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, and everyone who has assisted us throughout this process. The relentless effort and determination to help us was inspiring to see and it encouraged us that corrective action would be taken. I thank them for their support and the excellent work done by all to get this important bill signed into law.”