AUGUSTA – A year ago, Maine had the second-highest food stamp error rate in the nation, but so far this budget year, the state has lowered its error rate to less than the national average.

“There has been a lot of work, a great deal of work, to improve the training of eligibility workers,” Barbara Van Burgel, acting director of the Bureau of Family Independence in the Department of Health and Human Services, said on Friday. “It is working as the preliminary numbers show.”

In the first quarter of this federal budget year, the error rate was 5.44 percent, below the national average of 5.94 percent. In 2004, Maine’s rate was 13.29 percent, while the national average was 6.64 percent. Maine now ranks 24th in the nation.

The error rate measures mistakes made by state workers in figuring eligibility as well as clerical errors that may occur in data entry and similar mistakes. The measurement also includes errors made by food stamp recipients in applying for food stamps. It is not a measure of fraud.

Federal officials are cautioning the numbers are only for one quarter and are not final, Van Burgel said. But she is confident the numbers will continue at or below the national average over the remainder of the year. She acknowledged the federal requirement that the state pay for increased training is part of the reason for the improvement.

“The numbers always fluctuate to some extent from month to month,” Van Burgel said. “There is a lot of information that workers need to keep track of. Our goal is to stay at or below the national average.”

There are not separate food stamp eligibility workers. The staff that handles food stamps also processes the applications for 22 different programs within the bureau. There are about 300 workers across the state dealing with about 142,000 Mainers who are receiving food stamps.

“While the staff has done a wonderful job dealing with the error rate,” she said, “we have also seen an increase in the participation rate.”

As of last month, the number of individuals benefiting from the food stamp program increased by about 10,000 over a year ago. That translates to just over 72,000 households in the state that are getting an average monthly benefit of $161.

A General Accountability Office report last month praised the efforts nationwide at lowering the number of errors in administering the program. The report stressed the importance of the program both to families and to taxpayers by making sure the money is spent appropriately.

“Almost two-thirds of all payment errors occur when state food stamp caseworkers fail to act on reported information or misapply complex rules in calculating benefits,” the report concluded. “For example, the increase in the number of food stamp recipients who are low-wage workers and the changeable nature of their income has made it more difficult for caseworkers to keep up with changes.”

Van Burgel agreed and said that is why the state has had such an extensive training program. She said workers in Maine get three months of training, including dealing with actual clients under the supervision of a trainer, before they start to process applications in their own.

“This is a very important program for Maine,” Rep. Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, said on Friday. She is the co-chairwoman of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee. “There have been marked improvements in the department in a number of areas over the last year, and this is one area that we have seen great improvement.”

She said the sort of extensive training efforts in the Bureau of Family Independence that have solved the error rate problem should be expanded to other areas of the new department that are still having problems.

Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, is the ranking Republican member of the committee. He said it is “great news” that the food stamp problem has been resolved. He hopes that carries over to other problems in the agency.

“I hope that new approach carries forward to the series of other problems that are still in front of the department,” he said.

“But this is a sign of hope that they are willing to respond relatively swiftly to the problems they face,” Rosen said.