The variable interest rates on some of North Carolina's state debt have started to return to lower levels.

Sara Lang, spokeswoman for the State Treasurer's Office, said the average rate has dropped about two percentage points since last week. The state has $855 million in variable-rate debt, about 12 percent of the total state debt.

The rates adjust weekly.

For about $500 million, the new weekly rate is an average of 5.66 percent. A week ago it was 7.58 percent. For about $355 million, the new weekly rate is an average of 5.36 percent. A week ago it was 7.49 percent.

The state was paying a rate of under 2 percent three weeks ago. Lang said the state budget assumes a 4 percent interest rate, blunting any immediate impact on taxpayers.

From August to September, the state's monthly payment on the $855 million in debt more than doubled from $1.2 million to $2.5 million.

Richard Moore says he has known for some time that something was up with the U.S. financial system.

WUNC radio reporter Jessica Jones asked the Democratic state treasurer whether, as an observer of Wall Street, he saw problems coming.

"Yes. Absolutely," Moore said in a segment dated Thursday. "Exactly when it was going to happen, what form it was going to take, I can't tell you I knew that. But everybody that I know of who was conservative and who wasn't getting paid to say, 'Everything is great,' kept wondering, 'How can you continue to have real estate prices go up, commodity prices go up, tremendous amounts of loans being made?'"

Moore also blamed poor enforcement of leverage requirements.

"There's a reason we put those regulations in place coming out of the Great Depression," he said. "We really have gotten away from that. And I'm not trying to sound partisan, but we have gotten away from that the last five to seven years."

In February, while he was running for governor, Moore said the state's roughly $70 billion pension fund had largely avoided securities backed by subprime loans.

When you flub your checkbook, the mistake is probably worth a few bucks.

When the state treasurer botches the books, it can mean $141 million.

State Auditor Les Merritt released a report Tuesday that was part of a larger look at state finances. It showed that financial statements prepared by Treasurer Richard Moore's office contained a few bookkeeping errors. Moore is a Democratic candidate for governor.

The errors found in a routine audit included an understatement of $141 million, an overstatement of $80 million and misclassification of millions more.

No money is missing and the errors appear to be just that — bookkeeping mistakes. In a response to the auditor's findings, Moore's office wrote that the mistakes were minor and the milliions were a tiny fraction of the total funds Moore's office handles. Moore's office has already improved its processes, according to the report.

"We strive for total accuracy in all aspects of our agency's functions," according to the response from Moore's office.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina has sued state Treasurer Richard Moore over a public records battle.

In March, the association, which represents 55,000 state employees, filed a records request with Moore's office in the wake of a Forbes magazine article that highlighted Moore's heavy campaign contributions from investment managers that did business with the state's pension fund, which Moore oversees.

The association was seeking, among other things, records detailing who was managing the state's money. The association received some, but not all of what it requested, Ben Niolet reports.

A spokeswoman for Moore said in a recent interview she considered the matter closed, although the association had still not received records detailing how much money the treasurer's office spent on legal advice in its dealings with Forbes magazine.

Then, in October, the association renewed and expanded its records request.

The lawsuit, filed Friday morning is seeking a judge's order that would require Moore to turn over records. It is also asking a judge to force Moore's office to pay for legal and attorney fees.

Update: Sara Lang, a spokeswoman for Moore released a written response to the lawsuit.

"The Department of State Treasurer has followed the spirit, the intent and the letter of the public records law and welcomes a judge’s ruling to that point. We have provided nearly 900 pages of documents to SEANC, and Treasurer Moore stood before the group to personally answer their questions. We have worked diligently to fulfill these complicated, complex and often vague requests. It is disappointing that SEANC leadership would attempt to scare the 820,000 police, firefighters and teachers in the pension fund by calling into question the security of what the Wall Street Journal has called the second best public pension fund in America. It seems this lawsuit has more to do with political games than public information."

While the schools superintendent may be in the minority, most states elect the treasurer.

According to the National Association of State Treasurers, 37 states, including California, Florida and South Carolina, elect their treasurers. Almost all serve four-year terms, with the exception of Tennessee and Vermont, where they serve two years.

In the other 13 states, treasurers are appointed, usually by the governor or state legislature.

North Carolina is one of 22 states that do not limit the treasurer's number of terms.

John Haywood was the longest-serving treasurer in state history. Haywood served for 40 years until his death in 1827. Harlan Boyles, who left office in 2000, served for 24 years.

After two terms, current treasurer Richard Moore is running for governor.