A law passed by a Florida city or county is called an ordinance. When a city, town, or village enacts one, it’s a municipal ordinance; when a county does, it’s a county ordinance. Both carry the force of law within the jurisdiction that passed them, and both can be enforced through fines, liens, and in some cases criminal penalties. Resolutions, by contrast, are a separate kind of local action used for administrative matters and generally don’t carry the same legal weight.
Where Cities and Counties Get the Power to Pass Ordinances
Florida’s 1968 Constitution gave local governments broad authority to legislate. Article VIII, Section 2 says municipalities “may exercise any power for municipal purposes except as otherwise provided by law.”1Florida Senate. Constitution of the State of Florida Before 1968, cities could only do what the legislature specifically authorized. Now they can do anything the legislature hasn’t specifically prohibited.
Chapter 166 of the Florida Statutes, the Municipal Home Rule Powers Act, puts that constitutional grant into operating terms. Municipalities can legislate on any subject the state legislature could act on, with four exceptions: annexation and merger (which require a special or general law), anything the constitution itself prohibits, anything the state has expressly preempted, and anything a county charter has preempted under its own constitutional authority. The statute even instructs courts to construe its provisions to “secure for municipalities the broad exercise of home rule powers granted by the constitution.”2Florida Senate. Florida Code 166.021 – Powers
Counties have parallel authority under Article VIII, Section 1 of the Florida Constitution and Chapter 125 of the Florida Statutes. The main practical difference: county ordinances apply in unincorporated areas and sometimes countywide, while municipal ordinances apply inside city limits.3Florida Senate. Florida Code 125.66 – Enactment Procedures for County Ordinances
What Local Ordinances Typically Cover
Ordinances govern a surprising amount of daily life. The most visible are zoning and land use rules, which divide a municipality into districts and dictate what each area can be used for: residential, commercial, industrial, or mixed-use. Building codes, nuisance rules covering noise and property maintenance, and public safety standards also sit at the local level.
Environmental rules often come from local ordinances too. Tree removal, stormwater management, water conservation, and coastal protections like mangrove rules and sea turtle lighting are frequently governed by city or county law, supplementing state regulations.
If you operate a business inside a Florida municipality, you likely need a local business tax receipt, which was formerly called an occupational license. Counties set the framework. Receipts expire every September 30 and must be renewed annually. If you sell the business, the receipt transfers to the new owner for a fee of up to 10 percent of the annual tax, capped at $25.4Florida Senate. Florida Code 205.033 – Conditions for Levy; Counties
How an Ordinance Gets Adopted
A proposed ordinance must address only one subject and state that subject clearly in its title. It then has to be read on at least two separate days, either by title or in full. At least 10 days before the final vote, the municipality must publish a notice in a local newspaper identifying the meeting date, time, and location, listing the proposed ordinance’s title, and telling residents where they can inspect the full text. The notice must also inform interested parties that they can attend the meeting and speak about the proposal.5Florida Senate. Florida Code 166.041 – Procedures for Adoption of Ordinances and Resolutions
Counties follow a similar track. Enactment requires at least 10 days’ published notice and a public hearing before adoption.3Florida Senate. Florida Code 125.66 – Enactment Procedures for County Ordinances
That public hearing is your opening if you want to influence an ordinance before it takes effect. Showing up and speaking is the most direct way to put your position on the record.
There is one shortcut. A municipality can pass an emergency ordinance without the standard two-reading process, but it takes a two-thirds vote of the governing body to do so.5Florida Senate. Florida Code 166.041 – Procedures for Adoption of Ordinances and Resolutions Emergency ordinances are rare and typically reserved for genuine crises like hurricane response or public health emergencies.
What Happens If You Violate an Ordinance
Most ordinance violations in Florida are handled through code enforcement rather than criminal court. Municipalities appoint code inspectors who investigate complaints and document violations. If you’re cited, your case typically goes to either a code enforcement board (a panel of local residents appointed by the governing body) or a special magistrate (a single hearing officer, often an attorney). Both can subpoena witnesses, take testimony under oath, and issue orders with the force of law requiring you to bring your property into compliance.6Online Sunshine. Florida Code Chapter 162 – County or Municipal Code Enforcement
Daily Fines Add Up Fast
If you don’t fix the violation by the deadline the board or magistrate sets, daily fines start running. The standard caps are:
- Up to $250 per day for a first violation
- Up to $500 per day for a repeat violation
- Up to $5,000 for an irreparable or irreversible violation
Municipalities with a population of 50,000 or more can raise those caps to $1,000 per day for a first violation, $5,000 per day for a repeat violation, and $15,000 for irreparable violations, if they adopt a separate ordinance doing so by supermajority vote.7Florida Senate. Florida Code 162.09 – Administrative Fines; Costs of Repair
A daily fine doesn’t stop accruing until you fix the problem or a court renders judgment in a related lawsuit. A $250-per-day fine left unchecked for six months becomes $45,000. Once a certified copy of the fine order is recorded in the public records, it becomes a lien against the property where the violation exists and against other real or personal property you own. The municipality can then petition a circuit court to enforce the lien the same way a court judgment is enforced.7Florida Senate. Florida Code 162.09 – Administrative Fines; Costs of Repair
Criminal Penalties for County Ordinances
County ordinance violations can also be prosecuted as misdemeanors. A conviction carries a fine of up to $500, up to 60 days in jail, or both. Counties can set higher fines, up to $2,000 per day, when needed to carry out a federally mandated program.8Online Sunshine. Florida Code 125.69 – Violations of County Ordinances Code enforcement and criminal prosecution can sometimes run in parallel, meaning one violation could trigger both administrative fines and a separate criminal penalty.
Where Local Power Ends
Home rule is broad, but the state legislature can take an entire subject away from local governments through preemption. When the state preempts a topic, any local ordinance on that topic is void. Florida has been expanding its use of preemption in recent years. A few of the big ones:
Firearms. State law declares that the legislature occupies the “whole field” of firearms regulation, including purchase, sale, transfer, manufacture, ownership, possession, storage, and transportation. Any local ordinance regulating firearms is void.9FindLaw. Florida Code 790.33 – Field of Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition Preempted
Minimum wage and employment benefits. No municipality can set a local minimum wage higher than the state rate, require private employers to provide benefits not mandated by state or federal law, or set its own workplace heat exposure rules.10Florida Senate. House of Representatives Staff Analysis – CS/HB 433 Employment Regulations
Vacation rentals. Local governments cannot ban vacation rentals or regulate their duration or frequency, unless the local ordinance was already in effect before June 1, 2011.11Online Sunshine. Florida Code 509.032 – Public Lodging Establishments Cities can still regulate related issues like parking and noise.
The state has also preempted local authority over electric vehicle charging station regulation, law enforcement civilian oversight boards, and contractor wage preferences in public works procurement. New preemptions tend to show up each legislative session.
Even when an ordinance falls inside local authority and no state preemption applies, it still has to satisfy the U.S. and Florida Constitutions. First Amendment challenges to sign codes, protest restrictions, and adult-entertainment rules are common. Due process and equal protection claims arise when a zoning rule singles out one property owner without a rational basis, or when a permitting process gives officials unbounded discretion. Florida courts have historically resolved doubts about the scope of municipal power against the municipality: if it’s genuinely unclear whether a city has authority to do something, the city likely doesn’t.12Justia Law. City of Miami Beach v. Fleetwood Hotel, Inc.