Vero Beach City Government Guide

Vero Beach is run by a five-member City Council, led in October 2026 by Mayor John Cotugno and Vice Mayor Taylor Dingle, which sets policy and works through City Manager Monte Falls.

The other three seats on the Vero Beach City Council belong to Linda Moore, John Carroll and Aaron Vos, and the council describes itself as the legislative branch of city government: it adopts ordinances and resolutions and defines the policies city management carries out (City of Vero Beach City Council). It can also create citizen advisory boards, and the city lists ten advisory commissions, from the Airport Commission and Marine Commission to the Three Corners Steering Committee and the Utilities Commission.

Monte K. Falls, a professional engineer, is City Manager, and his office at City Hall answers at 772-978-4710 (City Manager). The manager's mission statement covers the daily affairs of Vero Beach city government, including law enforcement, public works, sanitation, financial operations, human resources, community development and recreational activities, plus the city-owned water, sewer, reuse water and solid waste systems. Sherri Philo, MMC, is City Clerk, keeper of council records and the official file for every city contract worth more than $25,000 (City Clerk).

The Vero Beach officials guide lists each council member with contact details, and the council meetings and public comment guide explains how agendas, minutes and speaking time work. The city budget guide and the missed audit and city finances guide cover the money side of the same council.

Vero Beach City Hall is at 1053 20th Place, Vero Beach, FL 32960, with a main number of 772-978-5151, and the council, manager and clerk all work from that building.

Mail for the council, the manager and the clerk goes to P.O. Box 1389, Vero Beach, FL 32961-1389, and the City Council and City Clerk share the 772-978-4700 line (City Council). Utility bills are paid in person at the Customer Service Department, 1036 20th Street, which takes cash, check or money orders (Vero Beach Customer Service).

Sources for the table: City Council, City Manager, Customer Service, Code Enforcement, Solid Waste Division and the Indian River County Building Division. Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Vero Beach website and the Indian River County website, both checked for every name and number in this Vero Beach government guide.

The City of Vero Beach runs its own water, sewer, garbage collection, code enforcement and planning, while Indian River County issues building permits, collects property taxes and runs residential recycling inside the city limits.

Building permits are a county service: the city shares its Building Department with Indian River County, so permit applications go to the county, but site plan, historic preservation certificate of appropriateness or code compliance approval from the city Planning and Development Department must come first (Vero Beach Building Department). The county Building Division at 1801 27th Street takes Plans Examiner of the Day walk-ins from 8:30 a.m. to noon and appointments from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (Indian River County Building Division).

Garbage is a city service. The City of Vero Beach normally picks up residential garbage twice a week, and when a pickup falls on an observed holiday (in 2026 that includes Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11, and Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26) collection moves to the next scheduled day (Vero Beach Solid Waste Division). Recycling is different: the Vero Beach Solid Waste Division monitors the residential recycling program that Indian River County provides inside the city limits.

Electricity is handled by Florida Power and Light. The city customer service page sends power outage calls to Florida Power and Light at (800) 468-8243 and keeps water and sewer trouble calls on its own 772-978-5100 line (Customer Service). Property tax bills are paid to the Indian River County Tax Collector, whose Main Office at the County Administration Complex, 1800 27th Street, Building B, is open weekdays from 8 a.m. (8:40 a.m. on Wednesday) to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with drive thru service through the lunch hour (Indian River County Tax Collector). The building permits guide, the garbage and recycling guide and the utility service setup guide walk through each service step by step.

Three things are moving in Vero Beach this fall: the November 3, 2026 General Election, a scheduled switch to free chlorine in the city drinking water from November 1 to 20, and the state study of the U.S. 1 and Aviation Boulevard intersection.

The City of Vero Beach water system normally disinfects with chloramines, and from November 1, 2026 through November 20, 2026 it will use free chlorine as part of annual maintenance, returning to chloramines on November 21 (Vero Beach Water and Sewer Administration). The notice gives (772) 978-5220 as the main office number for questions. The city is also studying relocation of its wastewater reclamation facility and posts the relocation study documents, including the 1989 Territorial Water Agreement and a 2019 Phase I alternatives evaluation, on one page (Wastewater Reclamation Facility Relocation Reports). The sewer plant relocation and rates guide, the water and sewer system guide and the STEP sewer system guide cover the plant, the rates and the barrier island sewer program.

The Florida Department of Transportation, District Four, is running a Project Development and Environment study of the U.S. 1 and Aviation Boulevard intersection near the hospital and Vero Beach Airport, project ID 441693-1-22-02, and it is weighing six alternatives that range from added turning lanes to overpasses or a twin intersection (U.S. 1 and Aviation Boulevard Project). The U.S. 1 and Aviation Boulevard project guide follows that study. Planning questions in the same downtown and island areas run through the height limits and development referendums guide, the historic preservation guide, the Live Local Act guide and the tree protection and champion trees guide.

Vero Beach City Council races are nonpartisan, and the City of Vero Beach lists eight candidates for the 2026 City Council election.

The Vero Beach City Clerk posts the 2026 candidate list with contact details, and the official filing papers include a candidate oath for nonpartisan office, a filing fee notice of candidacy and the campaign treasurer report forms (Candidates For City Council 2026, City Clerk election information). The City Clerk serves as Supervisor of Elections for all city referenda and elections (City Clerk), and the city election page sends mail ballot requests to the county elections office at 772-226-4700.

The Indian River County Supervisor of Elections sets Election Day for November 3, 2026, from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm at each assigned polling place, with early voting from October 19 to 31 and a mail ballot request deadline of October 22 at 5:00 pm (Indian River County Supervisor of Elections). Three of the four early voting sites have Vero Beach addresses: the Main Library Vero Beach at 1600 21st Street, the Intergenerational Recreation Center at 1590 9th Street SW and the Supervisor of Elections office at 4375 43rd Avenue; the fourth is Sebastian City Hall. The voter registration deadline was October 5. The city council elections guide covers the council races in more detail.

A Vero Beach code complaint goes in through the city online form with the filer's name attached, because Florida CS/SB 60 bars code officers from acting on anonymous complaints.

The Vero Beach Code Enforcement Division splits the city into a North Zone and a South Zone, each with its own officer, and the division line is 772-978-4640 (Vero Beach Code Enforcement). The page warns that mailing addresses and email addresses sent to the city are public records under Florida law. Its document list includes Ordinance 2026-02 on parking restrictions; the parking guide and the short-term rental rules guide explain the rules behind most complaints.

Vero Beach City Council agendas are posted before each meeting and minutes after approval (City Council). The Agenda Center lists an October 13, 2026 regular meeting, a September 22, 2026 regular meeting with a special call meeting the same day, and a September 10, 2026 special call meeting (Vero Beach Agenda Center). Records older than 2010 come from the City Clerk on request. The council meetings and public comment guide explains how to speak at a meeting.

Eighteen Vero Beach government guides sit under this hub, and the table below matches each common question to the guide that answers it.

Each Vero Beach guide in the table is checked against the city or county page that governs it, and the related links at the end of this page reach all eighteen.