• Mayor John Peyton wants to bring an end to JEDC bashing season. The scrutiny was justified, but now it’s time to let the commission work. “It was ridiculed and scrutinized for all the right reasons, but we’ve cleaned up the mess that was made and now I’d like to get out of JEDC bashing mode.” Peyton said he wants the City Council to restore the commission’s autonomy over its budget.
• Speaking of Peyton, after going through “an extremely disciplined but extremely difficult” budget season, he sounds a little weary of juggling the books to keep Jacksonville’s run of 11 consecutive years of rolled back property tax rates going. “We have the lowest property tax rates in the state, we’ve been rolling them back the last 11 years. Combine that with a large amount of pension debt... and some bond debt and it makes the budget extremely difficult. It is time we stop reducing [the tax rate] and start leveling off,” he said.
• Ken Thompson, the chairman/president and CEO of Wachovia Corp., will be coming back to Jacksonville to speak at the next Chamber Cornerstone luncheon. Thompson headed the Florida operation for the bank here until he was promoted and moved to Charlotte. He still has a home here. The luncheon is Nov. 21 at the Hyatt.
• FYI: there will be new trolley drivers starting next week. The current drivers have been thanking folks for riding and asking for a little patience with the new drivers who may not be totally familiar with the routes and stops.
• Big oyster roast fund-raiser later this month for the St. Johns Riverkeepers. Blair and Bobby Woolverton are chairing the Nov. 18 event at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens.
• Gov. Jeb Bush has sent his regrets for the grand opening of the new Main Library next Saturday morning at 10.
• Ed Furbee, morning show host for AM-1010, is setting his sights on Vegas. Furbee has been selected to audition for a new reality TV show called “King of Vegas” and will appear before the show’s producers at Bally’s in Atlantic City, N.J., Sunday for his tryout. The show, which will air on Spike TV, pits contestants against each other in multiple gambling competitions to see who is the best overall gambler. The winner of the 10-episode series gets $1 million.
• Property owners be wary when opening your mailboxes this month. November is when the tax collector mails property tax bills for the current year and property values in Duval County are higher than ever. According to an information leaflet released by the Duval County property appraiser’s office, the taxable value of local property is estimated to be $45.6 billion this year. That’s a $5.2 billion jump from last year.
• Much of the mail to the mayor’s office regarding the City’s negotiations with the Jaguars has taken a pro-team slant, but one unnamed writer made a simple statement in the Tuesday mail. The envelope contained a piece of paper with Jacksonville Jaguars typed in the center. The sender had crossed out “Jaguars” and typed in “Carpetbaggers.”