TRUMBULL — The proposed senior center project on Main Street could see a rise in construction costs following President Donald Trump's tariffs, officials said.
Thomas Arcari, principal at QA+M Architecture, said he and his team are looking for an estimate that includes increased costs resulting from the tariffs.
"We’re going to do our very best to capture what the cost would be and how the cost of the project will be impacted by the potential tariffs," he said.
Trump recently announced new tariffs on foreign goods, including a 25% increase on all imports of steel and aluminum, according to the Associated Press. In return, the European Union and Canada announced plans to put a 50% tax on American Whiskey, AP reports.
Trump also placed a 25% increase on all imports from Canada and Mexico, which will go into effect in April.
A tariff is defined as "taxes imposed on one country on goods imported from another country," according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy nonprofit organization.
Arcari originally compared the cost of locating the senior center at the former Grace Church site at 5958 Main St. as similar to the estimated $25 million price tag for the former site at Hardy Lane.
"I think apples to apples, it’s very similar, but construction costs have changed since then," he said.
Arcari said a projected cost will be brought to the building committee in the coming days. Talks of scheduling a virtual special meeting with the committee are ongoing, but a date hasn't been confirmed yet.
Acari said increases are normally anticipated in construction projects for several reasons, and this shift is no different.
"We need to plan for the fact that over the next year, there will be increased costs, escalation and other factors we don’t control," he said. "You try and build that into your estimate, and you also try and factor enough room into your contingencies to be able to address those changes."
The Board of Finance will consider the cost of project on March 27. If approved by both the board and the town council, the project would go to a referendum, where neighbors will decide whether or not it moves forward.
"It's likely, in a perfect world, that construction wouldn’t start until spring 2026," Arcari said.
Brian Marks, senior lecturer with the University of New Haven's Department of Economics and Business Analytics at the Pompea College of Business, spoke about the tariffs and their impact on municipalities like Trumbull.
"We’re looking at steel and aluminum. We’re looking at lumber. … The reason they’re going to face increased cost is the tariffs are a tax on the importers," he said. "And the importers then have to determine to what extent, if any, they can pass the economic burden of the tax to the purchasers and consumers of the goods."
Marks said a driving factor will be how the price for domestic goods will shift in the near future as a result of the tariffs.
"Their value increases, and so therefore, the price of the domestic supply also increases," he said. "Instead of getting lumber from Canada, we’re now going to get lumber from within the United States," he said.
"A natural reaction to sellers of those goods will be an increase in the price of those goods to consumers," he said. "They’re not going to keep them low per se. Because of market dynamics, the supply of the external is no longer there, and so when you restrict supply with a given demand, the price goes up. So the town of Trumbull will be confronted with increased costs."