Rome and Floyd County officials are considering an informal proposal from Paper Recovery of Georgia owner Ira Levy to buy their high-value recyclable materials.

The city and county partner on a 20-year-old recycling operation that was retooled in 2010 after it began showing annual losses that topped $400,000. County Manager Blaine Williams said revenue covers expenses under the new model and the center is building a fund balance.

“The commodity markets have been kind to us … (but) the numbers could change in the future,” he said.

Levy’s proposal expands on his July query, offering to accept cardboard, paper, plastic bottles and Rome residents’ co-mingled curbside collections. He’d also accept electronics one day a week.

“We believe that this proposal would save the Solid Waste Commission and its partners, Floyd County and the city of Rome, at least $387,280 in operating expenses while generating revenues in excess of $120,000 a year,” Levy wrote in the offer presented to the SWC on Tuesday.

Little information was included in the one-page offer, but City Manager John Bennett said it could be worth discussing with Levy. He said there would likely be some immediate savings but the details would determine the long-term benefits.

“We’re making money on the commodity markets and we do a lot of things at the recycling center he’s not going to do, take things he won’t,” Bennett told the SWC. “We need to think about what we want to accomplish.”

Williams also urged a thorough review before making a decision.

“We should always consider options,” he said. “But when you dismantle a public infrastructure, you should always assume it can’t be started up again.”

Floyd County Commission Chairman Irwin Bagwell, who chairs the SWC, assigned a committee to meet with Levy and report back.

The committee members are County Commissioner Garry Fricks, City Commissioner Milton Slack III, County Public Works Director Michael Skeen and Recycling Center Director Michael Skeggs.

The Solid Waste Commission meets the fourth Monday of every second month, so unless a special session is called, there won’t be another gathering until February 2013.