The Heidelberg City Hall is both the centre of local politics and the centre of the Heidelberg City Administration. The administrative bodies of the City are the City Council and the Lord Mayor.

The City Council meets regularly in the Council Chamber of the City Hall. Its 40 members were last elected in the local government elections of 7 June 2009.

Lord Mayor Dr Eckart Würzner is Chairman of the City Council and Director of the City Administration. He was directly elected in October 2006 for a term of 8 years.

Each one of Heidelberg's 13 city districts is represented by a District Council.

The Foreigners' Council/Migrants' Council represents the interests of foreign residents of Heidelberg. It advises the City Council on questions concerning foreign residents.

The City Youth Council is a very recent institution. It took up its work in January 2006 and represents the interests of Heidelberg’s pupils.

The Heidelberg City Administration consists of the 4 Departments "General Administration", "Building and Traffic", "Family, Social Welfare and Culture" and "Integration, Equal Opportunities and Citizens' Services"; 38 offices are assigned to these Departments. In addition to his overall responsibilities, the Lord Mayor is in charge of one department ("General Administration") as is each of the three Deputy Mayors.