Commission-Manager Structure
Miami operates under a commission-manager form of government, in which the elected City Commission serves as the legislative body and a professional, non-elected city manager carries out day-to-day administration. The mayor is separately elected citywide and serves as the chief elected official. This structure distributes executive and legislative authority across the mayor, five district commissioners, and the city manager, a model reflected in the City of Miami's documented governmental framework.
The City Commission holds authority over municipal ordinances, the city budget, and major policy direction. As of the FY 2025-26 adopted budget, the city's total budget stands at $3.6819 billion — comprising $1.830 billion in operating funds and $1.988 billion in capital plan allocations — according to the City of Miami FY 2025-26 Budget in Brief.
Mayor Eileen Higgins
As of April 30, 2026, Eileen Higgins serves as the 44th Mayor of the City of Miami, a position she assumed following the 2025 mayoral election. The City of Miami's official website documents her as the first female mayor in the city's history. She defeated then-City Manager Emilio Gonzalez in a runoff held on December 9, 2025, according to Ballotpedia's election record and the City of Miami's 2025 General Municipal and Special Elections page.
Prior to her election as mayor, Higgins served as Miami-Dade County Commissioner for District 5 beginning in 2018, a role in which she operated at the county level across overlapping municipal and county jurisdictions. Her election to the mayor's office represented a transition from county to city government leadership at Miami's highest elected position.
City Commission
The City of Miami's legislative body consists of five commissioners, each representing one of five geographic districts. As of January 2026, the five commissioners are Miguel Angel Gabela (District 1), Damián Pardo (District 2), Rolando Escalona (District 3), Ralph Rosado (District 4), and Christine King (District 5), as confirmed by the documented government structure on Wikipedia's Government of Miami article.
The Commission acts on ordinances, resolutions, and the annual budget, and it holds oversight responsibility for major city programs. Among those programs, the Miami Forever Bond Citizens Oversight Board supplements Commission oversight specifically for the voter-approved $400 million Miami Forever Bond, which funds sea-level rise and flood prevention, roadways, parks and cultural facilities, public safety, and affordable housing projects across the city.
City Manager
The city manager is a non-elected position appointed by the City Commission to serve as Miami's chief administrative officer. As of January 12, 2026, James Reyes holds this role, having been sworn in on that date according to the City of Miami's official City Manager page and WLRN's January 2026 reporting. Reyes succeeded Art Noriega in the role; the brief period in which Emilio Gonzalez had been elevated in an interim capacity ended with Gonzalez's candidacy in the December 2025 mayoral runoff.
The city manager position insulates day-to-day administrative operations from electoral cycles, placing budget execution, departmental oversight, and inter-agency coordination under a professional administrator who reports to the Commission. The FY 2025-26 budget of $3.6819 billion — spanning operating and capital expenditures — is administered through this structure, with the Commission setting policy direction and the city manager directing implementation across city departments.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2023 https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs Used for: Population (446,663), median age (39.7), median household income ($59,390), median home value ($475,200), poverty rate (19.2%), unemployment rate (4.9%), labor force participation (74.5%), educational attainment (21.5% bachelor's or higher), housing tenure (30.7% owner / 69.3% renter), median gross rent ($1,657), total housing units (219,809)
- PortMiami Announces Banner Year for Cruise Passengers and Cargo TEU Volume — Miami-Dade County Official Release https://www.miamidade.gov/global/release.page?Mduid_release=rel1764622080449470 Used for: PortMiami FY2025 cruise passenger record of 8,564,225; 4.02% year-over-year increase; increased cargo TEU volume
- Robust Economy — The Beacon Council (Miami-Dade County Economic Development) https://www.beaconcouncil.com/robust-economy/ Used for: Miami's dominant industries (international trade, finance, tourism, technology); highest concentration of international banks in the nation; $330 million annual green and blue economy investment by Miami-Dade County
- Why Miami — Miami Economic Development Initiative https://eidmiami.org/why-miami/ Used for: Fintech, health-tech, advanced mobility as leading growth sectors; over $5 billion in venture capital investments cited via Knight Foundation
- Mayor Eileen Higgins — City of Miami Official Website https://www.miami.gov/My-Government/City-Officials/Mayor-Eileen-Higgins Used for: Eileen Higgins documented as first female Mayor of the City of Miami; prior service as Miami-Dade County Commissioner District 5 since 2018
- 2025 General Municipal and Special Elections — City of Miami https://www.miami.gov/My-Government/Elections/2025-General-Municipal-and-Special-Elections-November-4-2025 Used for: 2025 Miami mayoral election timeline and qualifying period
- Miami Forever Bond — City of Miami Office of Capital Improvements https://www.miami.gov/My-Government/Departments/Office-of-Capital-Improvements/Miami-Forever-Bond Used for: Miami Forever Bond: $400 million total investment across sea-level rise/flood prevention, roadways, parks and cultural facilities, public safety, affordable housing
- Miami Forever Bond Citizens Oversight Board — City of Miami https://www.miami.gov/My-Government/Departments/Office-of-Capital-Improvements/Miami-Forever-Bond/Miami-Forever-Bond-MFB-Citizens-Oversight-Board Used for: Bond Oversight Board role in ensuring transparency and accountability for Miami Forever Bond
- Sea Level Rise and Flooding — Miami-Dade County https://www.miamidade.gov/global/environment/resilience/sea-level-rise-flooding.page Used for: Miami-Dade Sea Level Rise Strategy; Adaptation Action Areas (AAAs); first AAA in Little River area
- Miami is Ground Zero for Climate Risk — CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/26/miami-is-ground-zero-for-climate-risk-people-move-there-build-there-anyway.html Used for: Miami infrastructure enhancements: higher elevation requirements, permeable ground, higher roads and sea walls; City of Miami $400 million climate resilience bond; chief resilience officer position
- The Woman Who Built Miami — The Reality Reports https://www.therealityreports.com/2026/03/the-woman-who-built-miami-how-biscayne.html Used for: Miami incorporation date July 28, 1896; Miami documented as the only major U.S. city founded by a woman (Julia Tuttle)
- Cuban Exiles in America — PBS American Experience https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/castro-cuban-exiles-america/ Used for: Four waves of Cuban immigration since 1959; first arrivals in Miami following the Cuban Revolution; settlement in Little Havana
- Pérez Art Museum Miami — Official Museum Website https://pamm.org/en/ Used for: PAMM's education programs and collection character
- Cuban Immigrants — EBSCO Research Starters https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/cuban-immigrants Used for: First wave of Cuban immigrants (1959) as businessmen and professionals who established economic and cultural base in Miami; subsequent immigration waves
- Pérez Art Museum Miami — Greater Miami and the Beaches Tourism Authority https://www.miamiandbeaches.com/l/arts-and-culture/perez-art-museum-miami-(pamm)/2037 Used for: PAMM collection focus on 20th/21st century art with emphasis on Latin America, Caribbean, and African diaspora; Herzog & de Meuron building design; Freedom Tower as Cuban refugee processing center and current home of Museum of Art and Design at Miami Dade College