The administration was widely criticized last week for initially estimating it could cost $7.5 million to fix damage at the Capitol caused by protesters. Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch reduced that number on Friday to $347,500. About half of that — $185,000 — was to repair damage to the Capitol grounds.

Workers familiar with the building say even the latest number is highly inflated. John Jorgensen, business manager of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Council, noted that protesters used mostly blue painters tape specifically to avoid damaging the building's 43 types of stone.

"I really doubt whether there was any damage — not $7.5 million, not $347,000," Jorgensen said.

Throughout the protests, members of UW-Madison's Teaching Assistants Association have policed the demonstrators to ensure the Capitol remained unharmed. Kevin Gibbons, co-president of the TAA, said his organization has offered to help pay for the cleanup, but the wildly varying estimates have given him pause.

"When they throw out ... an outrageous, hyperbolic estimate of $7.5 million, and then another $347,000 estimate, it really erodes the trust in government," Gibbons said. "Right now, to give a contribution to the DOA would be almost silly because we can't trust anything they're saying."