Northeast Florida's residents enjoy an exceptional quality of life, and Mayor Peyton is committed to continually enhancing it. His accomplishments to date include:

• Keeping property taxes low
• Growing Jacksonville's park system
• Increasing access to the Jacksonville Public Library system
• Fulfilling The Better Jacksonville Plan (BJP)
• Forming a Growth Management Task Force to plan for the future
• Restoring and protecting the health of the St. Johns River through the River Accord partnership
• Implementing the Seeds of Change initiative

Low Property Taxes
Jacksonville's property owners enjoy the lowest property tax rates of any major city in Florida. Since taking office, Mayor Peyton has continued the practice of previous mayors and reduced property taxes. In 2006 the ad valorem millage rate was lowered for12th consecutive year.

Expanding Park System

Our city has 21 new parks to enjoy since Mayor Peyton took office in July 2003. What's more, the city has made significant renovations to 103 parks in that timeframe.  Jacksonville now has more than 80,000 acres of parklands, roughly 20 percent of the entire county.

Following a year-long study, the mayor restructured the city's Parks Department to include a conservation program, empanel a parks advisory board to raise money for maintenance and improvements and create a security division to coordinate with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Jacksonville's Public Library System
In his first term, Mayor Peyton oversaw renovations at 12 branch libraries, construction of six new branch libraries and the opening of the new downtown Main Library – the largest in the state of Florida. With the bricks and mortar of the library system in place, the mayor committed to increase access to the city's libraries. He added Sunday hours at more locations than ever before, offering residents 1,100 hours of access to the libraries on a weekly basis. The mayor also worked with the library and City Council to invest in additional books and materials, launch a volunteer recruitment program, enhance technologies available to patrons and develop a virtual branch library that will be accessible 24 hours a day.

The Better Jacksonville Plan (BJP) continues
Six years ago, Jacksonville voters approved The BJP, a growth management strategy to improve the city's public facilities and infrastructure. We now have a sports and entertainment complex downtown, improved roads, additional libraries citywide, more parks, and an equestrian center on Jacksonville's Westside.

Mayor Peyton continues to oversee The BJP. To date, nearly 1,700 miles of road have been paved and 105 miles of sidewalks have been constructed under the program. Some of BJP's road projects were threatened due to dramatic increases in the cost of building materials, but Mayor Peyton and his administration maximized local sources of funding and created a partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation to carry out these improvements.

Peyton also has finalized a plan to build a county courthouse. Groundbreaking is expected during the summer of 2007 with a completion date of 2010.

The mayor has also led non-BJP improvements such as re-locating and re-building the Trout River Bridge, installing aesthetic lighting on the Main Street, Hart and Fuller Warren bridges and creating the Water and Sewer Expansion Authority (WSEA). 

Planning for the future
Mayor Peyton formed the Growth Management Task Force in 2005 to plan for Jacksonville's continued growth. The group considered land use patterns, infrastructure, transportation, funding sources and regional cooperation among surrounding counties when forming its recommendations for managing the city's future growth.

The River Accord
Tied directly to Jacksonville's history, economy, culture and environment, the St. Johns River is one of the city's most important assets. In all, the river accounts for 19,000 jobs and an annual $2.2 billion economic impact. The mayor recently initiated the River Accord, an unprecedented partnership between the city, the St. Johns River Water Management District, JEA and the WSEA to improve the health of and access to the river.

Seeds of Change
Healthy neighborhoods are the building blocks of a strong quality of life. The mayor's Seeds of Change: Growing Great Neighborhoods initiative focuses on enhancing neighborhood aesthetics. Elements of the initiative include beautification and infrastructure enhancements, programs to increase homeownership and providing job and recreation opportunities for young people.