LITTLE VALLEY—The Cattaraugus County Department of Aging has received its allotment of free prescription discount cards for uninsured residents, the Cattaraugus County Legislature was told Wednesday.

Department of Aging director Cherianne Wold announced that a kickoff promotion will begin Tuesday.

“The cards are in, displays are ready, PR is going out, and posters are here. We’re expecting to have this in place so everyone is eligible who has no insurance coverage,” Wold said. She added that the cards also are good for pet medications.

The card is ready for unlimited use by an entire family, with no membership fee, enrollment forms or pre-existing conditions to report, she said. She noted that the cards, which provide discounts as high as 28 percent, can be used at small-town pharmacies and will be helpful to Medicare patients.

She also told the lawmakers that there is no cost to the county government or taxpayers. The program is sponsored by the National Association of Counties and pharmaceutical companies.

Bill Sprague, R-Yorkshire, said he fought to get the county involved in the program and is glad it is under way.

“If it helps one person get medicine for nothing, it is a great benefit,” Sprague said.

In other business, the Legislature scheduled a Sept. 9 public hearing on a proposed local law to impose a 25-cent mortgage recording tax per $100 of secured principal debt or obligation. The hearing will begin at 3 p. m., just prior to the Legislature’s next general session.

Lawmakers also received a presentation on wind farm opposition by Gary Abraham of the environmental group Concerned Citizens of Cattaraugus County.

Abraham pointed to documented health impacts that result from the kind of industrial noise wind farms pose for quiet rural environments that he said are “comparable to wilderness areas” for ambient sound levels.

In Sheldon and Bliss, residents have measured sounds of 50 decibels or higher at distances greater than a mile from the turbines, he said. In the Chipmonk area of Allegany County, chosen by Everpower for a wind farm site, residents say sound carries and they can normally hear people talking a mile away down the valley.

Abraham said every community hosting a wind farm has its opponents, and unlike the Southern Tier Advocates for Renewable Technologies group formed to support the projects, opponents are not paid but speak out for self-protection and receive no response from the project applicants.

Abraham said the wind farms displace no more than 2 percent of carbon dioxide emissions or other greenhouse gases, and even less if construction activity is factored in. Also, the communities see residents move out and property values drop. They also take a financial hit over a 36-year recapture period for tax exemptions, and in the interim receive only one-fourth of the normal property tax revenues in the form of PILOT payments.