More than three-quarters of the cities, towns and school districts from which The Providence Journal requested information about municipal employees’ salaries and earnings supplied it as of yesterday.

The Journal made the request under the state Open Records Law, which mandates that certain information about government employees be given to anyone who asks for it. From Aug. 16 to 20, Journal reporters hand-delivered letters requesting the information from all 39 cities and towns, plus 36 school districts.

Under the law, they had 10 business days to respond, which expired on Tuesday. The Journal continued to accept responses through yesterday as it compiled the results of who had complied with the request.

Among the information sought were employees’ names, job titles, hometowns and 2006 base pay and overtime. The information will be used as part of the newspaper’s examination of the cost of government employees, which began in July with a look at state employees’ salaries and earnings.

Of the 75 municipal agencies that the newspaper asked for the employee information, 58 supplied it, though not all of them supplied every category of information sought. Some agencies supplied some and said they would supply more later, when they can retrieve it from their databases. The 58 supplying data included 33 cities and towns and 25 school districts.

Seventeen agencies said they could not supply the information within the 10 days allowed and invoked a 20-business-day extension, which a spokesman for Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said this week can only be used “for good cause.” The 17 invoking extensions included 6 cities and towns and 11 school districts, many of which cited the opening of schools as the reason for the extension.

After the agencies that invoked extensions have supplied data, The Journal will analyze the information and produce statewide stories about municipal pay, as well as more detailed looks at local information.

In the West Bay, these cities and towns in supplied information: Cranston, East Greenwich, Warwick, West Greenwich and West Warwick. Coventry invoked the extension.

These school districts supplied information: Cranston, East Greenwich, Exeter-West Greenwich and Warwick. Coventry and West Warwick invoked the extension.

pparker@projo.com