City History

Location

The City of West Melbourne is located in east central Florida, approximately fifty miles south of the Kennedy Space Center. The City of West Melbourne was created in 1959 in order to avoid annexation into the City of Melbourne and to prevent the levying of ad valorem taxes.

Services

In the early years, the City provided limited services to the citizens. The first annual audit of the community showed revenues of $13,578 and expenses of $2,138 which compares to the 2019-2020 audit that showed $37,028,775 in revenues and $28,085,405 in expenses.

Platts Super Market 1955

Platt Family Grocery Store

Located on US 192 (New Haven Avenue) at the intersection of East Court and West Court in 1955.

Population

The City has grown in size and in population since its creation in 1959. The City had 3,050 people in the 1970 Census and 25,924 as of the 2020 Census. The City’s latest population estimate can be viewed on the city demographics page. 

In the years since its creation, the City has expanded its municipal services by purchasing, expanding and improving a waste water treatment, disposal and reuse facility, establishing and expanding a well respected law enforcement protection program, developing and maintaining recreational facilities to meet the needs of our citizens and providing other essential services such as planning and zoning, building department, records management, road and drainage maintenance and administrative services.

City Council 

The City Council is made up of seven members, which includes the Mayor and six council members, all of whom are elected by the qualified voters of the City. Candidates for Mayor and members of the City Council are required to be residents of the City for at least one year prior to the date of qualification for office and shall have the qualifications of a city elector. The next election is scheduled for November 2022. The Mayor is the head of City Government for ceremonial purposes only and is entitled to cast a vote during council meetings in the same manner as any other council member.

WATER AND SEWER UTILITY

City utility services include a waste water treatment system which is the state of the art in technology and operated under contract by a private corporation, Jacobs. For the water portion of the utility system, the City of West Melbourne purchases its water from the City of Melbourne and sells water to West Melbourne customers through lines and meters owned by the City of West Melbourne. The City has over 10,000 water and sewer customers.