by KYW’s Mike Dunn

The latest effort in City Council to make bars and restaurants smoke-free involves using a carrot rather than a stick.

City council right now has two smoking ban proposals languishing on its docket because there are not enough votes for passage, so Councilman Jack Kelly is stepping into the fray:

“There’s no secret that the administration and this council cannot agree on any smoking ban legislation, so instead of doing nothing, I introduced this bill to give some incentive to businesses.”

The bill says that any establishments with a liquor license would get a break on a portion of the business privilege tax if they go smoke-free. The city estimates this would save the average bar or restaurant about $1,000 a year.

Some on council wondered openly if this would violate the uniformity clause, which says you can’t give tax breaks to specific groups of people.