In a great advance for the taxpayers’ right to know, New York’s highest court ruled unanimously that the names of state and local pensioners, and the amounts of their retirement payments, are a matter of public record.

Absolutely correct. This is billions upon billions of public dollars, and the public deserves a full and complete accounting of where it is going.

In a decision handed down Tuesday, the Court of Appeals found for the Empire Center for New York State Policy and undid the damage caused by a raft of lower-court judges, who had twisted language and logic to keep the names of pensioners a state secret.

Writing the blunt and clear-headed opinion, to which five of his colleagues signed on, was Judge Robert Smith. Recusing herself was Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, one of the dunderhead jurists who got it completely backward when she sat on a lower bench.

The case never should have risen to such heights. The Empire Center sought to post the names and amounts on its very useful SeeThroughNY.net website, along with public salary and contract info.

In early 2010, it asked the New York City Police Pension Fund for the information. The fund handed over a list of numbers without names. The Empire Center sued.

Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Carol Huff misinterpreted both the clear language of the law and a prior ruling from the top court by confusing retirees and their surviving spouses — and, for good measure, throwing in the red herring of home addresses, which the Empire Center never wanted. An appellate court upheld her mistaken ruling.

The mix-up spread to the city’s four other pension funds and the statewide teacher retirement system, as they, too, shut down access to the names. Only the two funds run by state Controller Tom DiNapoli kept the public informed.

Two more trial judges made similar goofs, and two more appellate panels affirmed. In all, 16 judges got it wrong.

Until now, when the highest court made short work of the nonsense. Let the sunlight shine.

© 2014 New York Daily News