Continuing on the subject of New York pensions, the public has an absolute right to know who is getting paid and how much they are receiving. And a Manhattan Supreme Court justice’s ill-considered ruling to the contrary must be reversed.

Lawyers for the Empire Center, a taxpayer watchdog, will ask an appeals panel tomorrow to reaffirm the state’s commitment that the citizens’ ability to review taxpayer expenditures easily trumps a preference for secrecy beloved by the public employee labor unions.

Justice Carol Huff trashed that bedrock tenet of the Freedom of Information Law when she backed the police pension fund’s refusal to turn over the names of former officers who are collecting retirement benefits.

The judge’s decision was astonishing in that all other pension funds turned over the names of their beneficiaries to the Empire Center, which posts public spending data on its website, SeeThroughNY.net.

Representing former officers, union attorneys claimed that disclosure would compromise individual security – and they have stood by their nonsense even as the names and salaries of active officers are routinely published.

After the ruling, other pension funds decided that hey, they, too, want to keep identities secret.

Now, unbelievably, Mayor Bloomberg has sided with the unions on shrouding police retirees in secrecy, but not other retirees. But those funds are thumbing their noses at his stance.

Why should the public have access to such information? First, because it belongs to the public. Second, because the public and press need disclosure to monitor for misfeasance and malfeasance.

Without the roster of recipients, for example, no one will be able to monitor whether the pension system is sending checks in the names of deceased retirees or to officers who claimed to have been disabled but are healthy.

The Appellate Division must uphold the public’s right to know in no uncertain terms.

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