Smiths Falls council has approved adding up to $400,000 to its 2026 capital budget for the demolition and removal of the town’s decommissioned water tower, despite concerns from Coun. Chris McGuire that the town is rushing an unusual process ahead of the municipal election.
The project was not included in the town’s approved 2026 capital budget. The money will come from the Tax Stabilization Reserve, which Treasurer Paul Dowber told council has sufficient funds to cover the expenditure.
McGuire questioned why council needed to move ahead now.
“There’s nothing saying that it needs to be done right away,” he said during the regular meeting of the committee of the whole on Monday, Aug. 10. “There’s no red flag that says that this needs to come down right now, it’s imminently dangerous.”
McGuire also argued the town should have investigated the cost of retaining the structure before deciding to demolish it.
“The responsible thing, in my opinion, would have been to spend the $5,000 to $20,000 to figure out how much it would have cost to keep this structure up or take it down,” he said. “We didn’t do our due diligence. We’re being irresponsible, in my opinion, and I don’t support the proposal tonight.”
Dowber acknowledged the request is unusual.
“Yes, absolutely, it is,” Dowber said when McGuire asked whether the process was unusual. “It’s only because of the fact that there’s an election and there’s a possibility of a lame-duck timeframe.”
Council directed staff June 29 to undertake a competitive process for proposals to demolish the old water tower. Those results are not yet before council. Staff instead sought approval Monday for a capital budget of up to $400,000 so the project can continue if council enters a lame-duck period during the municipal election.
Other councillors disagreed, pointing out council had already made the decision to demolish the tower and directed staff to proceed.
Coun. Jay Brennan said the request was a reasonable next step following council’s previous decision.
“There’s no reason, in my opinion, to leave this until after the election,” Brennan said.
Coun. Peter McKenna also supported putting the financing in place before a potential lame-duck period, saying it would allow the current council to follow through on its earlier decision to demolish the structure.
Coun. Jennifer Miller questioned how much money was available in the Tax Stabilization Reserve.
Dowber said the reserve is capped at 20 per cent of the town’s current annual tax levy. With the levy just shy of $23 million, he said the cap is approximately $4.6 million.
As the town completes its 2025 year-end work, Dowber said the reserve will be topped up to approximately that amount.
“There is sufficient funding within that reserve,” he said.
Staff said the tower will be removed along with its perimeter fencing, communications building and the footings associated with the multi-leg structure.
Coun. Dawn Quinn, who chaired the meeting, also supported moving ahead, arguing delaying the work could ultimately cost taxpayers more.
“If we don’t get at it and do it now, what’s it going to cost us six months from now?” she said. “Everything we look at is going up in price.”
The $400,000 approval is a capital budget ceiling, not the price of a demolition contract.
Staff previously estimated demolition and site remediation at $375,000 in April. The town is undertaking a competitive procurement process and staff will report the results to council once it is complete.
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This is an iconic piece of Smiths Falls. What is the push to demolish this? Does it cost $400,000 to maintain?
Smiths Falls has tons of history that is getting taken away piece by piece. I am sure there are tons of stories out there about this tower (my dad climbed up it when he was a teen). Don’t get rid of something because people that have no idea of the history of the town, want it gone. Unless this structure is due to collapse, please do your due diligence.
At $400K who gets the money for scrap steel?