Justin Priest gets to see something that most of us don’t: He sees the true numbers of how much average Lawrence families earn in wages, and he said the figures don’t make for happy reading.

Priest, one of 14 candidates for the Lawrence City Commission, is a tax preparer. He said it is clear that low wages is one of he larger problems facing the community.

“The inequality in wages is one thing that has gotten completely out of hand in Lawrence,” said Priest. “A lot of businesses in this town want to hire part time, and college students eat that up. But for the normal townies who want a job, that makes it really, really tough.”

City Commission candidate Justin Priest

Priest said he prepared the taxes for one woman recently who works as a janitor for a large employer in town. She’s been at the same job since 1981, and she makes $22,000 a year.

“When I see stuff like that, it bothers me,” Priest said.

But Priest thinks it is important for the city to have commissioners who do see those types of figures. Priest said his annual earnings also are modest, and are pretty much in line with the average worker in Lawrence. He thinks he’ll bring a common man perspective to the commission, which has been dominated by business owners and professionals in recent years.

Priest said he definitely can relate to the financial challenges that face many area residents. The Journal-World does a limited background check on city commission candidates, and the one on Priest showed that in 2013 and 2012, the Kansas Department of Revenue filed a pair of tax warrants seeking unpaid taxes of about $3,400 from Priest. Priest voluntarily disclosed that he also owes about $16,000 in back taxes to the IRS. He said he’s involved in payment plans for the back taxes, which stem from his time from being self-employed.

“My tax debt is huge, and I know I have to get it paid down, and I will,” Priest said. “I think it probably makes me more of a normal person, though. Everybody has debt.”

A negotiator

Priest also works as a bus driver for MV Transit, the private company that operates the city and Kansas University transit systems. For the last year and a half, Priest also has been the president of the local transit union. During that time, he negotiated a new union contract with MV Transit. He thinks more negotiating skills would be useful on the City Commission.

“For some reason, this commission is really bad at just accepting something instead of countering with another offer,” said Priest, who pointed to the recent debate surrounding tax incentives for The Eldridge Hotel.

Priest — who spent his junior high years in Lawrence, moved to Virginia and has been back in Lawrence full-time since 2002 — said the commission’s lack of negotiating savvy seems to be one of several things frustrating Lawrence citizens. He said the City Commission, and government in general, has a lot of work to do to get citizens engaged again.

“I talk to a lot of normal people who just get up and go to work everyday,” Priest said. “It is like they don’t care anymore. They feel like it doesn’t matter what city commissioners do, what the governor does, what anybody in political power does, because they don’t feel like anything they do counts anymore.”

Issues

Priest, who previously owned a Lawrence-based mortgage company called J&J Financial, said financial issues are the biggest thing on the minds of voters. In particular, he said he hears a lot about the city’s use of tax incentives for businesses.

Priest said he is supportive of some tax incentives, but wants to ensure that there is a focus on quality jobs and supporting the right type of businesses.

“I don’t mind giving businesses tax incentives, but if you are going to get an incentive, you are going to pay your people more money,” Priest said. “I have a classic take on economics: The more money common people have to spend, the better the economy will be. It is not people staying in $300 a room hotels that will make the economy better.”

On other issues, Priest said:

• He wants to make City Hall a more user-friendly place for the average citizen.

“I want to make it so all the rigmarole is taken out,” Priest said. “I want people to understand what is going on. Most people don’t care whether this plot of land or that that plot of land is being rezoned. My goal is to not make it so boring that people don’t pay attention. Most people just want to understand where their money is going. I want to try to help people care more.”

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