5 published records
Business licenses and permits in Lee County, Alabama
Lee County (county seat Opelika; also home to Auburn, Smiths Station, Waverly, Loachapoka, Notasulga, and a small portion of Phenix City) runs its countywide general privilege license through the Probate Judge's Office, not the Revenue Commissioner — the Probate Judge's own 'Duties and Responsibilities' statement describes the office as 'the licensing office,' and the Alabama Department of Revenue's own County Probate Office Directory independently confirms the same office as Lee County's business-license contact. No standalone Lee County dollar-figure fee schedule for that license is published online; the county's own local act, Ala. Code §45-41-200, ties the fee mechanism to the statewide Title 40-12 classification scheme instead of a county rate table. Every incorporated municipality in the county — Opelika, Auburn, Smiths Station, Waverly, Loachapoka and, most likely, Notasulga — layers its own separate municipal business license on top of the county's, and the patchwork is not uniform: Opelika and Auburn use a flat-fee-plus-percentage-of-receipts model, while Waverly and Loachapoka use older, purely flat per-category fee schedules. Food-service and health permitting runs through the Alabama Department of Public Health's Lee County Health Department, part of ADPH's eleven-county East Central District, county-wide including inside every municipality. Building-permit authority through Lee County Building Inspections reaches unincorporated Lee County only; every incorporated city runs its own building department. Lee County is 'Wet' countywide per the Alabama ABC Board's own Wet Cities list; Opelika and Auburn each publish their own detailed city-level ABC local-approval procedures, while the Lee County Commission's own unincorporated-area procedure is not published online. Veterinary practice is licensed entirely by the state veterinary board, with the county's only touchpoint being a $1.00 statutory license-filing fee at the Probate Office — the Board's own Practice Act footnote cautions that the actual fee charged locally may exceed that statutory figure. Lee County's complete codified local acts (Title 45, Ch. 41) contain no Lee County barber commission of the kind Jefferson and Mobile Counties still run, so no county-level salon/barber requirement is listed for Lee County.
What are you opening in Lee County?
- RestaurantsFull-service restaurants carry the densest permit load of any small business: food, fire, occupancy, waste, and usually alcohol.See the full permit list
- Coffee shopsCafés are permitted as food service establishments even where no cooking happens, and the plan review step catches most operators by surprise.See the full permit list
- Retail storesRetail is the lightest common permit load, but the sales tax permit and the certificate of occupancy are non-negotiable in every jurisdiction.See the full permit list
- Salons and barbersPersonal care is licensed at state board level as well as locally, so the shop license and the practitioner licenses are separate obligations.See the full permit list
- Food trucksMobile food is the one category with no certificate of occupancy — but it gains a commissary agreement, and the unit itself is inspected rather than the premises.See the full permit list
- Fitness studiosPrepaid memberships trigger state registration and often a surety bond, which catches operators who budgeted only for the fit-out.See the full permit list
- Childcare centresThe heaviest permit load of any small business: state agency licensing, per-person background checks, and a stricter fire standard than ordinary commercial use.See the full permit list
- Contractors and tradesLicensed at state board level rather than locally, and the only common category with no premises permits at all — the bond is usually the long pole.See the full permit list
- Auto repair shopsOrdinary commercial permitting plus an environmental layer: waste oil, solvents and stormwater are each registered separately.See the full permit list
- Veterinary clinicsA state facility permit, controlled substances registration at both state and federal level, and a medical waste manifest — none of which a general business license covers.See the full permit list
Permits that apply to every type of business in Lee County
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee County General Privilege License | Lee County Probate Judge's Office | The general privilege license required of every business in Lee County is administered by the Probate Judge's Office, which the office's own 'Duties and Responsibilities' statement describes as 'the licensing office,' and which the Alabama Department of Revenue's own County Probate Office Directory independently confirms as Lee County's business-license contact — not the Revenue Commissioner, whose own office confirms it handles only property tax and vehicle titling. Lee County's own codified local act, Ala. Code §45-41-200 (Title 45, Ch. 41, Art. 20, 'License Inspector'), ties the county's fee and penalty mechanism to the statewide scheme at Ala. Code §40-12-10 and Title 40, Chapter 12, and separately sets a flat $5.00 delinquency fee for a license obtained after it is due. Title 40-12 prices a privilege license per specific business classification rather than as one flat number, and the Alabama Department of Revenue's own statewide Handbook of Privilege and Store Licenses names no Lee-County-specific rate table. No standalone Lee County dollar-figure fee schedule exists as a published document: five Wayback Machine snapshots of the Probate Judge's licenses.php page spanning September 2025 to September 2026, plus a live fetch, contain only marriage-certificate content, with no business-license fee page ever archived at that URL. | annual | 2026-09-28 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
What do these permits involve in Lee County?
Lee County General Privilege License
This county-wide general privilege license applies inside every Lee County municipality as well as in the unincorporated county — Opelika, Auburn, Smiths Station, Waverly, Loachapoka and, most likely, Notasulga each layer their own separate municipal business license on top of it rather than replacing it, and Phenix City's small Lee County corner falls under that city's own citywide license instead. The Probate Judge's Office administers this license from the Lee County Courthouse (215 S. 9th St., Opelika) with satellite offices in Auburn (1266 Mall Parkway) and Smiths Station (2336 Lee Road 430). The office's own licenses.php web page is entirely marriage-certificate FAQ content, with no business-license sub-page or fee table anywhere in it, now or in any of five Wayback Machine snapshots spanning thirteen months — a business owner should call the office directly for the exact figure rather than expect to find a published rate online.
Sources
Every figure in the table above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Ala. Code §45-41-200, License Inspector (Lee County local act, Title 45, Ch. 41, Art. 20) — fee/penalty mechanism tied to §40-12-10Justia / Code of Alabama · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
- Lee County Probate Judge — Duties and Responsibilities ('the licensing office')Lee County, Alabama · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
- County Probate Office Directory — Lee County contact is the Probate Office, not the Revenue CommissionerAlabama Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-28
- Alabama Department of Revenue — Handbook of Privilege and Store Licenses, October 2022, with the fee schedule for each business typeAlabama Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Who issues business permits in Lee County?
Permitting in Lee County is split across 4 agencies we hold records for, with tax registration handled at state level. No single office issues everything, which is why an opening usually means filing in several places rather than one.
Lee County issuing agencies
- Lee County Probate Judge's OfficeGeneral privilege/business license issuance, countywide, including inside every municipality · Filing of state-issued veterinary licenses under Ala. Code §34-29-84 · Distinct from the Lee County Revenue Commissioner, whose own office handles only property tax and motor-vehicle registration/titling2 permits
- Alabama Department of Public Health, Lee County Health DepartmentFood-service establishment, mobile-food, and childcare food-permitting, countywide including inside every municipality · ADPH's local field office for the eleven-county East Central District (Autauga, Bullock, Chambers, Coosa, Elmore, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, Russell, Tallapoosa)1 permit
- Lee County Building Inspections DepartmentBuilding, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits — unincorporated Lee County only, per the department's own mission statement1 permit
- Lee County CommissionLocal governing-body approval of Alabama ABC Board alcohol-license applications, unincorporated Lee County only1 permit
Other Alabama jurisdictions we cover
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.