ALBANY -- Ever wonder how much those state road workers filling potholes make in salary? Confused about why things are run a certain way at your local school? Want to see who are the kings and queens of pork in the state Legislature -- and the beneficiaries of the annual giveaway process each year?

Head to the most comprehensive Web site around for tracking government spending -- www.SeeThroughNY.net -- for a look at information deemed by law to be public but never made easy for the public to obtain.
The new site, begun Thursday by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative think tank, will satisfy any government watcher's dream for seeing how taxpayer money is spent. And its operators say the site will grow even more in the months and years ahead.

The site includes the entire payroll -- more than 263,000 names -- of the workers in the executive branch, Legislature and judiciary. Information on local government workers will be coming later. The site allows users to search by name or agency or branch of government. Information can then be sorted to see, for example, who is the highest paid worker in an agency.

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