MADISON — Efforts to restore and clean up the state Capitol after last year’s demonstrations cost about $200,000, far less than a state official’s widely ridiculed estimate of $7.5 million, according to new figures reported Thursday.

The cost included payment for cleaning walls, reseeding grass and hiring a consultant, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report.

The cost became an issue on March 3, 2011, when Gov. Scott Walker’s administration was in court fighting a lawsuit that sought to open the building to the public. A Department of Administra-tion official claimed in court that protesters had already done $7.5 million in damage to the building and grounds.

The next day, however, the Walker administration acknowledged it didn’t have much to back up that claim.

The damage was related to a nearly month-long protest that saw the sustained daily demonstrations of tens of thousands of protesters surrounding the state Capitol. Daily rallies on the Capitol grounds reduced the lawn to patches of muddy grass from the sheer amount of foot traffic.