Sides Trade Montgomery Smoking Ban Data

Patrons of Clyde's in Chevy Chase have gone outside to light up since Montgomery County banned smoking in restaurants and bars. (Matt Houston -- AP)

Business in Montgomery County restaurants increased in the first year of the ban on smoking in county restaurants and bars, the original sponsor of the law said yesterday. Business in establishments with liquor licenses was stagnant, countered a key opponent of the ban.

The dueling statistics were released yesterday, two days before a scheduled hearing in Annapolis on a proposed statewide smoking ban.

Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg), the county council member who sponsored the smoke-free restaurant law, released data showing that in the 12 months after the smoking ban took effect in October 2003, state sales tax receipts for Montgomery restaurants grew by $4.4 million or 7.6 percent, compared to the 12 months leading up to the ban. Applications to open new restaurants in the county also increased from 80 to 87, up 8.7 percent, according to the county's public health service.

"The law is accomplishing what the law was intended to do: It is protecting the public health. Workers don't have to trade their health for a paycheck," said Andrews. "The economic data show that the restaurant industry continued to thrive and restaurant applications have increased."

In response, the Restaurant Association of Maryland issued its own set of data, showing the ban has hurt restaurants. Melvin R. Thompson, the group's vice president of government relations, called Andrews's numbers misleading because they included McDonald's and other restaurants, which never allowed smoking.

Between April and December 2004, sales tax receipts for Montgomery restaurants with liquor licenses grew by only $110,480, or .025 percent, while they grew 7percent over the same period in neighboring Frederick County. The association looked at the eight-month period because that was after the cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg also adopted smoking bans.

The number of restaurants with liquor licenses in the county fell to 402 by the end of December 2004 from a high of 526 in March 2003 , according to data from the state comptroller's office, Thompson said.

"The bottom line here is Councilman Andrews continues to use restaurant data that should not be used to measure the impact of the smoking ban on restaurants," Thompson said. "This affects restaurants with liquor licenses."

The restaurant association also included sales tax data for Talbot County, which implemented a smoking ban in April. There, restaurant sales tax receipts fell by $2.9 million or 11 percent, while sales for similar establishments in neighboring Caroline County increased by 36 percent and in Dorchester County by 14 percent.

The state senate's finance committee will hold a hearing tomorrow to consider a statewide ban on smoking in public places. Last year, a similar bill failed to pass the committee by one vote.

Proponents of the bill said a statewide ban would allow counties and municipalities to offer smoke-free workplaces without losing business to neighboring jurisdictions that allow smoking. But opponents argue that a statewide ban doesn't help establishments close to the state line.

In Virginia, where state law preempts local ordinances on smoking, the Virginia Senate earlier this month defeated a bill that would have prohibited smoking in indoor areas, including restaurants. A similar bill was introduced in the District in 2003, but died in committee. An effort to put the measure before voters is still tied up in court, said Angela Bradbery, president of Smokefree DC, a group that lobbies for smoke-free workplace laws.

Sen. Ida G. Ruben (D-Montgomery), a chief sponsor of the proposed statewide ban, said, "Many restaurants are still as crowded as can be. Look at Silver Spring. You can't get a reservation at some places. I don't believe they're losing money." Sara Noel, a bar manager at the Quarry House Tavern in Silver Spring, disagrees. "I've lost 70 percent of my personal income because of the ban," she said.

The latest batch of statistics from Montgomery isn't likely to change any minds in Annapolis, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas M. Middleton, (D-Charles). "I don't hear anybody saying they're having a change of heart," he said. "[A smoking ban] would have a very severe impact on the little local corner bar-restaurant. I look at what they've done in Howard County" -- where smoking is allowed in separately ventilated areas. "That may be a way to go. I don't know if the committee is there yet."