Editor's Note: This Help Desk explains how to get a pothole fixed by the city. If you're having trouble doing that, please let us know about it here, or at 215-854-5307.

THE PROBLEM: In April, a visitor to the City Howl Web site (www.thecityhowl.net) posted an unfavorable review of the Streets Department, citing the number of unrepaired potholes in South Philly. The stretch of Oregon Avenue between 9th and 24th streets, the user wrote, was especially bad, filled with "not just potholes, but sink holes."

WHAT WE DID: We started by taking a ride along Oregon between 9th and 24th in early May.

We didn't find much, other than one long stretch of holes between 21st and 22nd streets that had been almost entirely repaired. It looked like there had once been close to a dozen holes in the left lane, but only one remained unfilled.

Curious, we called the Streets Department and spoke with Steve Buckley, deputy commissioner of transportation. We went in looking to learn about Oregon Avenue. We came out with a tutorial on all things pothole-related, including how to get one fixed, and a lesson on why this has been a particularly bad year for potholes.

»  More Help Desk: The Year of the Pothole

Yesterday, we criticized Mayor Nutter for having the city pay for his recent trip to the Gulf Coast. We got word late yesterday that the administration had found the money to cover the trip elsewhere. Here are the details, from today's editorial in the Daily News:

We're happy that Mayor Nutter has changed his mind. For us, the issue was not so much the money itself as the conflicting message being sent to taxpayers. If we're being asked to pay higher taxes and receive fewer services, public officials should cut back on their own amenities, too.

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Tax policy is always a controversial topic, but one of the hottest debates is probably about raising taxes on the wealthy. On one side, advocates for a more progressive tax structure argue that millionaires should pay more, since their incomes have risen faster than anyone else's over the past decade. Opponents say that increasing taxes will drive wealthy people away from the place that is taxing them.

Who's right? It's hard to measure the singular impact of specific policies, but a blogger over at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points to research that shows higher taxes won't necessarily lead to an exodus of millionaires.

What do you think? Would higher taxes for millionaires and other high-income earners drive rich people away? Or is it a fair way for cities and states to raise revenue?

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About the state budget. Apparently leadership walked out of a meeting this morning and said stuff like, "We continue to have productive conversations." Could they get something passed -- dare we say it -- on time? Nah, probably not. Right?

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When we first heard that Mayor Nutter was traveling to the Gulf Coast to observe the damage done by the oil spill, our response was “cool.” The delegation, organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, seemed like a great way to show some brotherly love to people impacted by this environmental catastrophe.

Our feelings changed after we read this:

The City of Philadelphia paid for his trip, but the mayor said he was not sure how much it cost.

What? In the middle of the worst fiscal crisis in two decades, city government still has enough money to send Mayor Nutter on a trip to the Gulf Coast? We're in favor of showing solidarity, but should taxpayers really be footing the bill?

We understand that we're not talking about a huge sum here. After all, the cost of a hotel room and airfare is almost nothing in the scheme of the $3.8 billion city budget. Still, Nutter probably traveled with an entourage that included security. That's a lot of hotel rooms. If the Mayor flew first class, add thousands more to the overall cost.

It's hard to take Nutter seriously when he says that there is nowhere left to cut after he takes a trip like this. How can citizens now have confidence that city officials are really pinching every penny? This trip hardly suggests a frugal mindset at City Hall.

Mayor Nutter told the Inquirer that the trip was worth it because if some kind of disaster happened in Philadelphia, we'd want support from around the country. Huh? If that's the motivation, we'd rather Nutter organize a fund-raising drive to help with clean up. Why the heck would we want the mayor of Gulfport to visit if the Sunoco refinery blew up?

Frankly, both the Mayor and City Council have asked city residents to make numerous sacrifices over the past two years. Our taxes have been raised twice, fees have risen, and services have been cut. Is it too much to ask that our elected officials make sacrifices of their own? For instance, giving up the travel budget for things like this.

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Poll: Mayoral junket at taxpayer expense? (420 votes)

To continue with our moderately obsessive coverage of the future of the Sheriff's Office, we thought we'd highlight this op-ed from the Inquirer today, by John Kromer, who is running for Sheriff on the platform that the office should be abolished (this seems a bit strange at first blush -- is the Sheriff the right person to eliminate the position of Sheriff? Kromer explains that his role would be to work with other entities in the system to transition to a world without a Sheriff). Anyway, here's Kromer's case in today's piece:

Four public agencies play key roles in Philadelphia tax collections: the Licenses and Inspections, Law, and Revenue Departments, and the Sheriff's Office, which administers auctions of tax-delinquent properties. L&I's performance has improved greatly under the Nutter administration, and the Law and Revenue Departments have performed reliably and consistently. The Sheriff's Office is the weak link.

The office does not have the capability to scale up the number of tax-delinquent properties brought to auction, and it can't transfer clear title to auctioned properties in a timely, reliable manner. Philadelphia's tax-collection process therefore has little credibility, and irresponsible investors and developers are quick to take advantage of it.

He goes on to argue that the Office won't do better as long as it's headed by a politician accountable essentially to no one.

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Well, this is impressive news out of Harrisburg today:

Rendell said the 54-day amnesty period netted $261 million, exceeding the goal of $190 million that budget makers had planned. The single largest payment made was $12 million in corporate taxes.

Besides the total collected, we also learned some other interesting things about the amnesty. For starters, it cost $16 million, or 6.1% of what it brought it. The rest of the money will be split between infrastructure improvements and taking a bite out of $1 billion deficit for this fiscal year.

Rendell also said that of the $2.1 billion in back taxes the state is owed, about $550 million can still be collected. And now that the amnesty is over, the state is going to move to make that happen:

"We are not stopping here, not by any means," Rendell said.

Rendell said he would ask the Legislature for an additional $2.3 million to pay for about 40 tax collection agents who, he projected, would help the state pull in more than $30 million a year.

In August, the state will begin publishing the identities online of all tax delinquents who have liens against them.

And if public shaming isn't enough:

Officials are discussing further ways to step up enforcement, including criminal prosecution by the attorney general's office, "which is an enormously effective tool that we have," Rendell said.

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We don't have much to add to Clout's post about the Controller reporting that the Human Relations Commission "lost" 60 percent of its equipment, worth $513,000, but we will make this observation: ARE YOU KIDDING US? Then we get this:

The Commission, in a response included in the audit, said that much of the equipment may have been misplaced or improperly scrapped during a move of offices in August 2007. The Commission added that it has already implemented the recommendations Butkovitz made in the audit for keeping better track of equipment.

More than half of your inventory? Really? How??

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As lawmakers continue to wrangle over the state budget, a leading non-profit agency is warning that there could be big cuts to social services funded by the state. In an e-mail sent to supporters earlier today, the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania wrote that failure to find new revenue could mean more than $1 billion in cuts to programs, many in health and human services.

“The likelihood that there will be severe and immediate reductions in health and social services in Pennsylvania in July grew last week,” said the e-mail. “Efforts to pass legislation aimed at generating new revenue for the Commonwealth failed in the state House of Representatives.”

The e-mail is referring to a measure that would have generated more than $330 million in new revenue for state coffers. The bill, which included a new tax on Marcellus Shale drilling and smokeless tobacco, was sent back to committee by the Democratic leadership after it became clear that there weren't enough votes for passage.

However, the United Way also made clear than all forms of revenue aren't created equal. The e-mail expressed concerns about plans to transfer $340 million from the Tobacco Settlement Fund to the general fund.

“Although smoking cessation and prevention programs have been assured they will still receive their funding for fiscal year 2011, anti-smoking advocates are concerned that redirecting the tobacco settlement funds to general state spending will result in losing funding to support these programs.”

State lawmakers are required to pass a budget by June 30th, although that deadline has been missed every year for the past eight years.

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