Donald Trump News: Protecting President-Elect Is Costing New York City A Lot Of Money

Donald Trump is known as a man of expensive taste. But the man himself costs quite a bit -- $37.4 million, to be exact. That’s how much the city of New York is shelling out to provide security around Trump Tower until his inauguration next week, said New York Police Department officials at a City Council hearing Tuesday night.

The figure increased from an original estimate of $35 million after the NYPD added the cost of traffic enforcement. The total estimate also includes the cost of salary, overtime and benefits for officers, who have been pulled from their local neighborhoods to guard Trump Tower. As a result, the NYPD must assign other officers overtime hours to cover those precincts.

When the city of New York originally asked the federal government for $35 million to cover the cost, Congress provided $7 million instead.

Given these figures, the NYPD is estimated to exceed its annual overtime budget by at least $500 million, according to Vincent Grippo, deputy commissioner for management and budget for the NYPD.

This would be the largest overtime cost since 9/11, not counting Hurricane Sandy, Grippo said.

Even after Trump is inaugurated, the NYPD is predicting that Trump’s visits back to New York will cost $500,000 for each day he stays in the city. In addition, when Trump travels through John F. Kennedy Airport to visit his wife and son, who are staying in New York, aviation control will suspend other air traffic.

And it doesn't end there. Representatives from businesses along Fifth Avenue claim they've missed out on customers because of the perpetual, heavy security presence nearby. Those businesses may have lost $40 million, said Tom Cusick, president of the Fifth Avenue Association Business Improvement District

For other New Yorkers, the increased traffic and security around Trump Tower has cost time rather than money. Travel time has increased by 25 percent on 57th street and 66 percent on Sixth Avenue.