By Alabama Public Radio
Opelika, AL – The Opelika and Auburn city councils have voted to raise the local lodging tax from ten percent to 13 percent. The change will take effect February first. It's expected to provide an extra 200-thousand dollars a year for the Auburn-Opelika Tourism Bureau. The tax has been at ten percent at least since 1988, when the tourism bureau was founded. The cities retain four percentage points and the state collects the other six percentage points. Two percentage points go back to the Tourism Bureau.