DES MOINES — The Iowa Supreme Court will rule on the legality of the Ames smoking ban within the next 60 days, after hearing from parties on both sides of the issue Friday.

The attorney representing eight Ames restaurants, Fred Dorr, said the city does not have the right to control local smoking laws. He said the smoking ban is a violation of Iowa law.

Dorr referred to a state law about smoking in public areas that allows restaurant owners to designate spots for smoking, “giving people a right to smoke in these designated areas.”

“The Ames ordinance restricts this freedom, but it can’t take away what the state law gives,” he said.

Ames City Attorney John Klaus said the smoking ban isn’t in violation of state law. He quoted an excerpt from the law that states smoking can be prohibited by the “fire marshal, or by other law, ordinance or other regulation.”

Justice James Carter questioned whether the word “ordinance” related to the Ames smoking ban.

It may not justify banning smoking because “the statute says state laws will supersede local laws,” he said.

On Friday, Klaus said there was no conflict between the state and local laws regarding smoking because District Court Judge Carl Baker ruled that the state Legislature never specifically stated that smoking prohibitions cannot be the subject of local action.

State Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, agreed with Klaus. He said the state’s smoking ordinance was designed to give cities the freedom to restrict smoking areas, and Ames is acting consistently with the state law.

“The district court ruled in favor of the city, and I anticipate the Iowa Supreme Court will rule the same way,” he said.

Erin Scott, waitress at Caf‚ Beaudelaire, 2504 Lincoln Way, said the business has lost “an astronomical amount of money” since the smoking ban went into effect in 2001. Profits for an individual month are about $8,000 less than before the smoking ban, she said.

However, Quirmbach said there has not been empirical evidence to show that local restaurants have lost revenue due to the smoking ban.

Workers at these restaurants should appreciate the ban because “the ordinance will protect them from the dangers of secondhand smoke,” he said.

George Belitsos, co-chairman for the Ames Tobacco Task Force, a group of smoking-ban proponents, said the Supreme Court’s decision could determine the future of more citywide smoking bans.

Eight Iowa cities are considering smoking bans, he said.

The smoking ban was enacted in August 2001, prohibiting smoking in all Ames restaurants from 6 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. The citywide smoking ban was the first of its kind in Iowa.

City officials said the ordinance is justified because public health risks of secondhand smoke are more important than any potential loss of revenue restaurant owners may incur.

A month later, seven restaurant owners sued the city using financial backings from Philip Morris, the world’s largest tobacco company, on the grounds that the ordinance infringed on the state law and caused the businesses to lose money. Another Ames business joined the suit later.