BANGOR – In the last year, Maine fell behind in its attempts to achieve key economic development goals by 2005, according to a report by the Maine Economic Growth Council that will be officially released today.

The state and local tax burden for residents and businesses, along with the education and skill levels of Maine’s work force, are listed as being in desperate need of improvement if Maine is to compete among the other 49 states for new growth opportunities.

But Gov. Angus King, who is distributing the report at a noontime press conference, said Monday night that even though progress has slowed in the last year, significant gains toward economic prosperity have been made since the goals were written nine years ago.

“It’s a blueprint for where we’re doing well and where we need to go,” King said. “We’re trying to honestly identify our issues and deal with them.”

According to the report, national indices and experts place Maine within the top five states in terms of state and local tax burden.

“That’s nothing new,” said King, mentioning that the report does not show drops in tax burden since 1999, which include a decline in sales tax and the elimination of the snack tax. “Those should show up in next year’s report.”

What’s also not in the report, King said, are figures being circulated in Augusta about the rise in personal and per capita income for Maine’s workers compared with the rest of the nation last year.

Maine was among the highest in percentage increase in income levels for the first three quarters of the year while the rest of the nation lost ground, King said.

“We maintained steady growth while the rest of the states fell,” said King, who will be speaking at Husson College’s business breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Thursday. “Other states had further to fall.”

The Maine Economic Growth Council was formed in 1993 when the state was beginning to come out of a three-year recession. Made up of state legislators, executives, educators and economic developers, the council was charged with developing a long-term economic plan for the state, yet not delve into specific strategies to attain the goals it set. Every year since its formation, the council has measured the state’s performance in whether it was reaching those goals.

For the last nine years, the council has measured the state’s performance in 40 areas pertaining to the state’s economy, community and environment. This year, it added 20 more areas in those three categories.

Of the 29 goals specifically targeted at the economy, the state has fallen behind or has held steady in 21 of them. They include new business starts, the development of new products and services, gross state product, household debt, and jobs that pay a livable wage. The cost of doing business in Maine, including the cost of energy and health care, also remains high, not just to businesses but also to workers.

There wasn’t enough data in the last year to report any progress in five of the goals.

“A state’s business climate can either stimulate or hinder economic growth, and the measures indicate that Maine has work to do in this area,” according to the council’s report, titled “Measures of Growth 2002.”

The continuing education of the state’s workers is key to any economic growth, said Darcy Rollins, who researched and wrote the report. Since 1990, the percentage of Mainers over age 25 with an associate’s degree dropped from 6.9 to 5.4, and the percentage of Mainers with advanced degrees dropped from 6.7 percent to 5.3 during the same time period.

Even though more Mainers have bachelor’s degrees compared with 1995, at 24 percent compared with 21 percent, Rollins said that’s not enough for the state to maintain a strong business climate that is critical to its way of life.

The council states it wants 30 percent of the population to have bachelor’s degrees by 2005.

“The goal will be difficult to attain given current populations and demographic projections,” according to the report. “It will require further investments in education and in generating employment opportunities that will attract and support highly educated workers.”

House Speaker Michael Saxl, D-Portland, who will be with King at today’s press conference, said that over a lifetime, a worker with a bachelor’s degree will earn about $1.7 million more than a worker without one. He said further investment in higher education by the state would help to grow personal income levels.

“It’s like winning a lottery ticket in getting a bachelor’s degree,” Saxl said.

Continuing education by workers fell in the last two years, from 51 percent to 36 percent, according to the report. Fewer people were attending seminars, programs or courses, and fewer employers paid for the training, down from 35 percent in 1998 to 10 percent last year.

King said businesses probably cut back on employer-sponsored training because of the recession.

“2001 was a tough year for Maine businesses so maybe that explains it,” he said.

Ron Brodeur, a coordinator with the state Department of Labor’s “Rapid Response” team, said family economics may dictate whether a person chooses to go back to school or receive training even though the workers know education could improve their financial standing.

“Ongoing training is just part of the world we live in now,” Brodeur said. “Even if you’re in a secure job, it’s not that secure if you don’t have the technical skills for a new job market.”

In community and environmental standards, Maine has made significant improvements, according to the report. Maine children are faring better than those nationally, poverty levels are dropping and crime rates are down.

However, cigarette smoking among people age 18 to 34 continues to go up and that will stress the health care system in the future, according to the report. And the number of reports of domestic assault grew.

People in the state’s poorest counties – Washington, Piscataquis, Somerset and Aroostook – make about 63 percent of what people in the state’s richest counties – Cumberland, Lincoln, Knox and Hancock – earn, according to the report.

The state got high marks for conservation of its lands, for the water quality of marine areas and its sustainable forest lands.

Senate President Richard Bennett, R-Oxford County, said it’s important for Maine to maintain its quality of life through community and environmental standards, “but it doesn’t, by itself, make us prosperous.”

He said the state “still is behind the eight ball” in economic growth issues it can control, not those forces that are happening nationally, such as the recession.

“We just need to get our fiscal house in order,” said Bennett, who will be at today’s press conference. “You need the jobs and a healthy economy to provide services for people.”

To make reservations for Husson’s business breakfast Thursday, call 973-1036 or e-mail at sleepert@husson.edu. Cost is $6.