Most state agencies fall far short in providing taxpayers with access to information about their work, according to a new survey of transparency in government.

The John Locke Foundation this week unveiled nctranparency.com, an ongoing look at how state and local agencies in terms of making information available to the public.

Most of the 22 state agencies that were graded on the site were given a "D" or an "F". The state Department of Public Instruction earned the highest grade - a "C."

The foundation graded agencies on information that they make readily available online. Joseph Coletti, a fiscal analyst for the foundation, said in a release that grades were weighted to "reflect access to the most important information." Budget information, for example, was given greater weight.

DPI earned the highest grade among state agencies by making available its budget, contracts, the salaries of employees by job code, the salaries of top employees, and other information.

The Office of State Auditor, the state community college system, the Office of the State Controller and others received an "F" because they do not make much of that and other information available online, according to the site.

State tax revenues were down 21 percent last month compared to the previous April.

A new report from state Controller David McCoy notes that tax revenues declined by $623.7 million in April of 2009.

That put the total decline for the year to date at $1.7 billion, or 11 percent.

The declining tax revenue is caused by a sluggish economy and high unemployment. It led to a negative balanced of $284.7 million in the general fund at the end of the month.

That deficit would have been higher but Gov. Beverly Perdue transferred $139.6 million from rainy day funds during the month and a Senate bill transferred another $250 million to keep the State Health Plan afloat, the report notes.

In turn, the deficit has led to slower tax refunds, with $224.6 million still unrefunded to state taxpayers as of May 8, according to the report.

Walter Dalton wasn't paid for acting as governor.

The lieutenant governor served in the place of Gov. Beverly Perdue while she was on a vacation out of the state last week. 

State law says he should have been paid her salary, too:

During the period that any individual serves as Acting Governor ... his compensation shall be at the rate then provided by law in the case of the Governor.

It's not much of a pay raise. The governor makes $139,590 a year and the lieutenant governor $123,198, so the difference would be $63.04 for each day he was in charge.

But Dalton did not take the extra money.

"He has not received her salary at all," said Sherri Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Office of the State Controller, which cuts pay checks to state officials. "He didn't get that, and he didn't ask for it."

She said they are not aware of any recent lieutenant governor who has received the additional pay while acting as governor. 

State employees checking their W-2 forms last week found some of the numbers out of whack.

It was another attack of the BEACON payroll system.

A box that was supposed to have numbers in it, one showing the amount of pre-tax money set aside for dependent care was blank, while a box for distributions from a retirement plan should have been blank had numbers in it, Lynn Bonner reports.

Sherri Johnson, spokeswoman for the state controller's office, said the mistakes found their way into 17 percent of employee tax forms, or about, 17,000.

The office sent notes to state agencies' human resources and payroll departments, and to employees with computer access who log their own time, saying new W-2s were being printed and delivered.

It took two employees a day to fix a "configuration switch" that was not set correctly, Sherri Johnson, spokeswoman for the state controller’s office, wrote in an email.

Johnson made a point of noting the old payroll system had its problems with W-2s. About four or five years ago, all W-2s from central payroll put “deceased” in the employee boxes, Johnson wrote, and all the forms had to be reprinted.

Gov. Beverly Perdue didn't go on the state payroll until Jan. 10.

Of late, a mostly academic discussion has arisen about whether Perdue became governor after Jan. 1, when the constitution says her term began, or after Jan. 10, when she took the oath of office.

Her paycheck has taken sides. The N.C. Office of State Controller, which pays the governor's salary, considers Perdue's effective date of employment Jan. 10. 

Perdue hasn't gotten paid yet, however. She'll receive the first of her monthly paychecks on Jan. 30.

The governor currently makes $139,590 a year, roughly comparable to a dentist working for the N.C. Department of Correction.