An ordinance that would have created new city licensing, tax and inspection requirements for residential landlords, commercial landlords, short-term rental hosts and self-storage operators was removed from the Opelika City Council’s agenda Tuesday afternoon, hours before the council met, and was not taken up at the 6 p.m. meeting.
The measure had been listed as the fifth item under ordinances on the agenda posted last week, set for first reading. A revised agenda published by the city Tuesday for the same meeting lists only four ordinances — hemp store zoning at second reading, the 1103 Glenn St. senior center lease, a sexual abuse prevention policy for the personnel manual, and package store zoning at first reading. The rental licensing item does not appear on it.
The proposal is expected to return to the council at a later date. No date has been announced.
What the proposal would do
The ordinance would add two new articles to Chapter 14 of the city code. As the Opelika Daily News reported Sunday, its title refers to short-term rentals, but the text reaches much further:
- Short-term rentals (fewer than 30 consecutive days): a city business license required before advertising, with the license number printed in the listing; a 24-hour local contact who lives in Lee County and can be at the property within one hour of a city request; fire and home inspections with a fee of up to $100; and a license tax of 1.5% of annual gross receipts, $100 minimum, on top of the city’s 7% lodging tax.
- Residential landlords — houses, apartments, condominiums, rooms, dormitories, mobile homes, tiny homes and portions of them: a license tax of 1.5% of gross rental receipts, $100 minimum, with property-by-property reporting. Payment is not counted as complete without the property list.
- Commercial landlords: one-fortieth of 1% of gross revenue, $100 minimum, with the same property-by-property reporting.
- Self-service storage facilities: a 1.5% city rental and leasing tax with monthly reporting, alongside the city’s existing 1% occupational tax on wages.
Two violations involving the same short-term rental unit within 12 months could send the license to the council for revocation, and law enforcement officers would be authorized to help enforce the chapter. As written, the ordinance would take effect Feb. 1, 2027, with operators already licensed under other city rules given 30 days from that date to comply.
The city’s case, and the 2022 history
Mayor Eddie Smith said before the item was pulled that the city needs a clearer way to license and track rental property, and that the proposal would add building and fire safety requirements for short-term rentals, according to reporting by the Opelika Observer. Smith told the Observer the city does not yet have a confirmed count of affected properties or a reliable estimate of how much revenue the ordinance would raise, and said the licensing and reporting requirements would help build a more complete picture of rental activity. He also said the city takes property owners’ concerns about added cost seriously.
City Attorney Robbie Treese told the Observer the 1.5% charge is a business license tax rather than a regulatory fee, which means the money would go into the general fund and would not have to be justified against specific code-enforcement costs. He cited Sections 11-51-90.3 and 11-51-209 of the Alabama Code as the authority for the tax, and said the gross-receipts structure is intended to correct the legal problems that led the city to suspend an earlier rental ordinance in 2022 after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling and questions about state-law preemption under the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
The Opelika Daily News has not independently reviewed the 2022 ordinance or the court ruling; those statements are the city attorney’s, as reported by the Observer.
What still is not known
The city has not said why the item was withdrawn, whether the text will be rewritten before it returns, or when it will be back on an agenda. The proposal as filed carried no fiscal note, no cap or quota on short-term rentals, no owner-occupancy requirement, no zoning change and no appeal process beyond referral to the council.
The council’s next regular meetings fall on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, with work sessions at 5:30 p.m. and regular meetings at 6 p.m. Agendas are normally published the Friday before. The Opelika Daily News will report when the ordinance reappears.
Reporting on the mayor’s and city attorney’s comments is credited to Michelle Key of the Opelika Observer. The agenda comparison and the ordinance text in this story come from the city’s own posted agendas and agenda packet for the Sept. 15 meeting.
