LEWISTON — Special trash bags bearing the city’s logo could be in the future, as long as residents get ample time to discuss the new program.

Councilors gave a tentative thumbs-up to a pay-as-you-throw program, clearing staff to begin taking proposals from companies to operate the program.

“We will get started and see how far we can get, with the goal of trying to queue this process by a meeting in July, recognizing that if we are not where we need to be, we can put the brakes on it,” City Administrator Ed Barrett said.

The program would involve residents buying special trash bags at local stores. City crews would only collect curbside trash left in those bags.

Councilors on Tuesday discussed the matter for two hours with Barrett, Public Works Director Dave Jones and representatives from WasteZero, a company that helps manage paid trash collection systems.

Although there was no formal vote, six councilors said they supported moving forward with the project. Councilor Mark Cayer said he favored the idea but the city is moving too quickly if councilors plan to vote in July.

“We just went through a major issue with a bike lane that almost caused a referendum,” Cayer said. “I think we have to do a significant period of time for outreach and we have to target people that don’t typically come to outreach meetings — and that’s roughly 99 percent of our residents.”

Cayer said he would like to see a year’s worth of public discussion about the idea.

“To me, if the savings are there, the quicker we do it the better,” Councilor Don D’Auteuil said. “I’m not saying do it next week, but two or three meetings — I think that’s enough.”

Councilor Mike Lachance said he’d like to see at least two public meetings to discuss the idea, but Councilor Shane Bouchard said he wants at least 12 meetings to roll out the idea to the public — six before the July meeting and six more leading up to the start of the program in October.

“If we can do 12 meetings and still roll this out in October, I am perfectly OK with it if we can do the outreach,” Bouchard said.

Barrett estimated the new program would cover the costs of trash collections, which is about $1.2 million per year. That would represent about $1 million in revenue and about $200,000 in savings on trash tipping fees.

That savings could be used to pay down the city’s tax rate, reducing it by about 66 cents for an entire year of the program, or about 44 cents if the program starts midyear. That would be a savings of between $99 and $66 in property taxes on a $150,000 home.

The bags would likely sell for about $2 for a 30-gallon bag and about $1.25 for a 15-gallon bag. All residents would be able to leave their trash in the special bags.

“A program like this would allow residents to manage the cost of their solid waste disposal, rather than have the costs hidden in the tax bill,” Barrett said. “Those who are rigorous in making sure they recycle could minimize the cost of the service — and there would be an incentive to do so.”

Barrett said the bags would effectively end the city’s current program of charging landlords owning multifamily buildings to collect trash, while some landlords have to pay private companies for their trash collections.

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