Local lawmakers are questioning whether it makes sense for the city to be spending millions of tax dollars to protect the President-elect in Midtown. Our Courtney Gross has more from City Hall.

Call it White House North and it's costing the NYPD — not the Secret Service — a lot of money to protect.

As President-elect Donald Trump puts together his incoming administration in the tower that bears his name, the NYPD is below protecting the perimeter.

On Tuesday, another branch of government, was questioning the distribution of those resources.

"To the President-elect, we understand that you have a home on Fifth Avenue," said City Councilman Dan Garodnick. "And we ask that you do not treat Trump Tower like a pied-à-terre."

De Blasio administration officials were summoned before the City Council to explain how the city was spending $35 million on protecting the President-elect before Inauguration Day.

"There is going to be a presence when he is in and when he is out but I cannot elaborate on exact figures," said NYPD Deputy Chief James Kehoe.

So far, Congress has only moved to reimburse the city $7 million, but that bill is expected to grow.

Officials estimate every day Trump is in town, it costs $500,000 to protect him. If he frequents his home turf after taking office, that price tag will multiply quickly.

"My tax money is going to be paying for his security and I resent that since he has a lot more money than I do," said City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz.

It's not just individual taxpayers. Businesses in the area are losing customers thanks to all of the security barriers.

"As of today, informal estimates indicate that more than $40 million may have been lost," said Tom Cusick with the Fifth Avenue Committee.

But perhaps this is really just politics at play or so says the only Trump surrogate in City Hall.

"It's a little bit hypocritical though for my colleagues who were more than willing to spend money on Occupy Wall Street which cost the New York City Police overtime $17 million to now somehow be concerned about this," said Joe Borrelli.

Garodnick did say he invited members of the Trump team here to City Hall to testify, but he never heard back.