Anyone visiting New York's 1,700 parks and 14 miles of beaches this summer will be able to do so free from the smell of cigarette smoke after the city council made its biggest anti-smoking push since it banned the habit from restaurants and bars in 2002.

The measure will see smokers fined $50 (£31) if they light up in municipal parks and pedestrian areas of Manhattan such as Times Square.

It was passed by 36 votes to 12 after a lively debate in which critics accused legislators of turning the city into a totalitarian state.

The move follows similar health-conscious measures in New York to remove trans fats from restaurants, force food chains to display calorie counts on their menus and efforts to persuade food producers to reduce salt content.

The mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is expected to sign the law this month, and it will come into effect 90 days later.

"New Yorkers who go to our parks and beaches for some fresh air and fun will be able to breathe even cleaner air and sit on a beach not littered with cigarette butts," Bloomberg said.

He has made improving the health of city dwellers one of the main ambitions of his nine years as mayor.

The 2002 smoke free air act, which removed smoking from most workplaces including restaurants and bars, was one of the first acts of his mayoralty.

That, combined with higher cigarette taxes and an aggressive anti-smoking advertising campaign, has dramatically reduced smoking among New Yorkers. Between 2002 and 2009 the smoking rate fell by almost a third, and over Bloomberg's time in office there are about 350,000 fewer smokers.

With attention of health bodies increasingly focusing on the effects of passive smoking, the issue of smoking in outside areas has risen to the fore.

Cities such as Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles have already banned smoking in parks, though New York's new regulations are among the toughest. A survey in 2009 showed that more than half of non-smoking adult New Yorkers – about 2.5 million – had levels of toxins in their blood from cigarette smoke high enough to leave residues.

But the anti-smoking measures are not universally approved. In the chamber of the city council on Wednesday there was heated debate about the new ban, with some members arguing that the health drive had gone too far.

"I truly believe government is being too restrictive in this particular matter. It's a totalitarian society that's going to have this type of restrictions," Robert Jackson, a Democratic council member from Harlem, told Reuters.