DOBSON — During last night’s meeting of the Dobson town commissioners took no action on a water purchase issue that has been hotly debated with the city of Mount Airy in recent weeks.

Dobson and Mount Airy officials entered into the agreement in 2008 that calls for Dobson to buy 300,000 gallons of water per day, which would havegenerated $298,000 in revenue for Mount Airy. The town had plans to resale the water in Surry County for expected commercial development at the interchange at Interstate 77.

Dobson officials at a joint meeting held on June 14 informed Mount Airy it would not be able to fulfill its commitment because that development never came. Mount Airy officials, however, have countered it has a legally binding agreement, and the city has already calculated that revenue in its tight 2010-2011 budget.

At that meeting Dobson officials offered to purchase 50,000 gallons, but when the full board of Mount Airy commissioners met on June 17 the commissioners said they could accept nothing less than Dobson purchasing 200,000 gallons per day for the next two fiscal years, beginning July 1. That compromise offer also called for Dobson to begin buying the full 300,000 gallons beginning on July 1, 2012.

After a lengthy closed session to discuss personnel matters last night, Commissioner Gerri Martín asked Mayor Ricky Draughn to put off making a decision at Thursday night’s meeting regarding the water agreement.

“Mr. Mayor, considering the extensive conversations that has occurred surrounding the topic for the past six months in conjunction of different persons on the Mount Airy board and the significant financial impact this issue will have on the citizens of Dobson, I’m going to suggest to you that we continue to look at this issue further so that we can arrive at the best possible solution for the citizens of Dobson,” Martín said.

Draughn agreed with Martín and asked the board to table the issue until the July meeting.

“I think you are right. It’s such a big economic impact on our citizens that there needs to be more studying done on this. We will just table this if it’s all right with the board,” said Draughn.

After the meeting, Martin said the Dobson board is under no obligation to Mount Airy to make a decision on the purchase of water by July 1.

“If Mount Airy has imposed a July 1 deadline that would be their deadline. We don’t have a deadline,” Martín said.

In other business, the town adopted its budget for fiscal year 2010-11. Interim City Manager Paul Hensch’s recommended 2010-11 budget, which he presented at the June 24 meeting, includes no proposed tax increase and no water and sewer increase for the town’s residents. The town’s total budget is $2.2 million.

No one spoke at the second public hearing held concerning the budget Thursday night.

Commissioner Lana Brendle made the motion to pass the budget with Commissioner Clinton Dockery making the second. The motion passed unanimously.

The board also considered an amendment to its 2009-10 budget in the amount of $20,000. Hensch said the change came in from an increase in occupancy taxes, which are a pass-through to the town’s Tourism Development Authority. He explained that the change does not affect the budget in any way. Commissioner John Lawson made the motion to pass the motion with Martin making the second. The motion passed unanimously.

Commissioners also passed a request authorizing the USDA and the Rural Center to award the construction contract of the new Public Works building to Garanco, a Pilot Mountain-based company, for a base bid of $522,000. The bid was the lowest out of eight contractors. All of the contractor’s bids were within $50,000, which Hensch noted was unusual.

“It’s amazing that they all came in that close,” Hensch said.

The board approved a request for funds for the Dobson Library to assist with the summer reading program. The board also agreed to allow the library to upgrade its children’s reading area, under the agreement that the library would fund all of its own renovations.

The request to appoint a town representative from the board to the library board was tabled until next month. Hensch told the board that he would see if anyone from the community would be interested in serving on that board.

After three months of discussion, commissioners decided to make, “Dobson — the heart of Surry County” its new slogan. But board members chuckled when they realized that very slogan is cross-stitched into Dobson’s seal, which hangs on the wall behind commissioner’s seats.

During the grant updates portion of the meeting Hensch said the water lines connecting Dobson and Mount Airy on U.S. 601 have been tested all the way through. He said chlorine sample have been taken and will be sent to the state next week for testing.

“They’ve started making taps on this side of 601, hopefully in a week or two they will start making taps on the other side of 601. We do have customers on that line right now,” Hensch said.

The board scheduled at closed session meeting on July 1 at 7:30 to review applications for the town manager’s position.