A council member told colleagues at the Aug. 5 meeting that state legislation requires municipalities to choose by Oct. 1 whether to administer a local vaping tax or to accept state distribution calculations, and that any local ordinance would not take effect until Aug. 1, 2026.
The council member said the city has received information from an entity named “Avenue” and plans a conference with that group next week to answer remaining questions before presenting language for a resolution or ordinance. The council member recommended adopting a local vaping tax, noting other Alabama cities have already done so.
On the same topic, the council member raised lodging-tax enforcement for short-term rentals (for example, Airbnbs), saying that some short-term rentals in Ozark were not remitting lodging taxes and that the city should consider addressing that in the future as tournaments and visitor demand grow.
Council members did not vote or adopt any ordinance at the meeting; the remarks were part of a discussion and an advance planning conversation. No staff report, draft ordinance text or fiscal analysis for a vaping tax or short-term-rental tax enforcement was presented in the meeting transcript.
Direct quote: “I think it would be in our best interest to do our own basing tax,” the council member said, and later noted the state process is “very difficult to get any information out of the state as far as what their calculation is gonna be.” The council member also said the vaping tax “does not take effect until 08/01/2026.”