Florida Municipal Government Types

A Florida municipality is a city, town or village created by general or special law under Article VIII of the Florida Constitution, with its own elected legislative body and a charter (Florida Constitution).

The Florida Constitution says municipalities may be established or abolished and their charters amended pursuant to general or special law, and that each municipal legislative body shall be elective (Art. VIII, s. 2).

The Florida League of Cities municipal directory covers Florida's 411 cities, towns and villages and lists their officials, addresses and phone numbers (Florida League of Cities). The League notes that municipal elections are held throughout the year (Florida League of Cities).

In Florida, municipal annexation of unincorporated territory and mergers of municipalities happen only as general or special law provides, not by a city acting alone (Art. VIII, s. 2).

Florida cities use the form their own charter prescribes, such as a council or commission that hires a manager or a mayor who serves as chief executive, and state law requires the proposed charter of a new municipality to name its form (section 165.061).

Section 165.061 of the Florida Statutes says a proposed municipal charter must prescribe the form of government and clearly define who holds the legislative and executive functions (Florida Statutes).

Sources for the Florida examples: Miami Shores, Islamorada, Tallahassee, Orlando and Jacksonville.

In a Florida council-manager municipality the elected council sets policy and hires a professional manager, who runs the departments and prepares the budget, while the mayor mainly presides (Islamorada).

Miami Shores describes the arrangement plainly: all power and authority to set policy rests with the elected Village council, which hires a nonpartisan manager to run the organization and has the authority to terminate the manager if the manager is not responsive (Miami Shores).

In Islamorada the Village Manager supervises and coordinates the departments, appoints and removes department directors, prepares the budget for the council, and makes reports and recommendations to the Village Council (Islamorada). The Islamorada mayor is the ceremonial head who presides over council meetings, has no role in day-to-day administration, and is appointed by fellow council members for a one-year term (Islamorada).

Tallahassee runs a variant with a directly elected leadership mayor. The Tallahassee City Commission appoints four officers to run the city: the city manager, city treasurer-clerk, city attorney and inspector general, and the city manager oversees most departments and the daily operation of the city (City of Tallahassee). The city says its mayor is not considered a strong mayor because the position has no veto power and represents only one vote on the commission (City of Tallahassee). The Tallahassee mayor and commissioners serve staggered four-year terms, with two seats elected in presidential cycles and two seats plus the mayor in midterm cycles (City of Tallahassee).

In Jacksonville the elected Mayor is the chief executive who runs the executive departments and submits the budget, and the city and Duval County form a single consolidated government (City of Jacksonville).

Jacksonville says its Mayor is the chief executive, elected to a four-year term and limited to two consecutive full terms, who administers, supervises and controls all executive departments except those headed by other elected officials and prepares the annual budget for the City Council (City of Jacksonville). The Jacksonville City Council has 19 members, one from each of 14 council districts and five elected at-large, and Duval County has no separate county commission because the government is consolidated (City of Jacksonville).

The Florida Constitution makes such a merger possible: the government of a county and of one or more municipalities in it may be consolidated into a single government, but the plan may be proposed only by special law and takes effect only if approved by vote of the electors as the plan provides (Art. VIII, s. 3).

Orlando shows a mayor-led council with district seats. Members of the Orlando City Council are the Mayor, elected at-large, and six City Commissioners elected from districts, all for four-year terms; Buddy Dyer has served as Mayor of the City of Orlando since 2003 (City of Orlando). Orlando's next General Election is set for Tuesday, November 2, 2027, for Mayor and Commissioner Districts 2, 4 and 6, with the City Clerk as qualifying officer (City of Orlando).

Under home rule, a Florida municipality may pass ordinances on any subject the Legislature could act on, except four groups of subjects reserved by law (section 166.021).

Section 166.021 of the Florida Statutes gives municipalities the governmental, corporate and proprietary powers to conduct municipal government, perform municipal functions and render municipal services, and lets them exercise any power for municipal purposes except when expressly prohibited by law (Florida Statutes).

The four exceptions in section 166.021 are: annexation, merger and extraterritorial power, which require general or special law; any subject the Florida Constitution expressly prohibits; any subject expressly preempted to state or county government; and any subject preempted to a county by a county charter (Florida Statutes). The Legislature directed that the section be read to secure the broad exercise of home rule powers, and any other limit in a municipal charter adopted before July 1, 1973 was nullified (section 166.021).

The Florida Statutes also state the intent to remove any limitations, judicially imposed or otherwise, on the exercise of home rule powers other than those expressly prohibited (section 166.021).

A Florida city changes its form of government only by charter amendment approved by its voters in a referendum, and a new city must meet population, density and distance standards set in state law (section 166.031).

Under section 166.031, the governing body by ordinance, or the electors by a petition signed by 10 percent of the registered electors as of the last municipal general election, may submit a proposed charter amendment to the voters; any part of the charter may be amended except the part describing the boundaries (Florida Statutes). The amendment is adopted when a majority of electors voting in the referendum approve it, and the governing body then files the revised charter with the Florida Department of State (section 166.031).

Section 166.021 separately requires approval by referendum for any change in the form of government, the distribution of powers among elected officers or the terms of elected officers (Florida Statutes).

For a new Florida municipality, section 165.061 requires an area that is compact and contiguous, with at least 1,500 residents in counties of 75,000 or fewer people or at least 5,000 in larger counties, an average density of at least 1.5 persons per acre unless extraordinary conditions require a municipality with less density, and a distance of at least 2 miles from the boundaries of an existing municipality in the county unless an extraordinary natural boundary requires a separate government (Florida Statutes). The proposed charter must also not bar the new council from levying any tax the Constitution or general law authorizes (section 165.061).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, against the Florida Constitution, the Florida Statutes on the Florida Legislature website and the official websites of each Florida city named on this page.