AUGUSTA – A Maine think tank announced Wednesday it has started a project to track town and school spending across the state, saying expenditures at the local level consume two-thirds of all tax dollars.

“It’s impossible to provide effective and cost-efficient government without accurate, timely information about local budgets,” Michael Moore, the executive director of the Maine Public Spending Research Group, said in a statement. “Because they receive significant state aid, local school districts must provide their budgets to the state. Information on municipal spending has been harder to collect.”

Moore said information collected by his organization will allow municipal officials to make comparisons from town to town based on population, region or levels of services.

“We’ll be able to say something about it by the end of September,” Moore said.

The research group, which is headed by former utility executive and past gubernatorial candidate David Flanagan, said it has hired SCS Media Services of Portland to collect data, including municipal budgets and tax rates.

“Collecting this data is a very labor-intensive process. To help facilitate the data collection effort, we will be sending a letter to all Maine towns informing them of this project and asking for their cooperation. We believe that this information will prove useful to town officials as well as citizens,” Flanagan said.

The research group said the Maine State Chamber of Commerce would be the lead sponsor of the project. Moore said the Chamber would be providing some financial backing.

“It’s too bad that there’s not an easier way to collect the data, but I’m glad that MPSRG has stepped up to the challenge. The Chamber is very supportive of the need,” said Dana Connors, the Chamber’s top officer.

The research group said it wants to make a database, updated annually, available to advocacy groups and the media.

“Our goal is to have a database of local spending collected and ready to use each fall. The numbers will reflect the current budget, will show changes from the previous year and help citizens be better informed for the next budget cycle, which begins in January in many communities,” Moore said.

The analysis of government has become something of a growth industry in Maine in recent years and a newly created legislative committee has been assigned to review the findings of recent studies.

The Joint Select Committee on Future Maine Prosperity, on which 15 lawmakers will serve, has been charged with developing a plan “to achieve sustainable prosperity” in the state.

Its duties include reviewing recent reports including “Charting Maine’s Future: An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places,” by the Brookings Institution.