New ‘Cost Clock’ Highlights Mounting Price of Minnesota Government Shutdown
Dayton’s state shutdown is costing Minnesota $65 million weekly
Minnesota Majority today announced a new web widget that offers a real-time estimate of the cost of Minnesota’s state government shutdown. At an estimated cost of $65 million per week, the clock debuted today with a total estimated cost of $97 million and counting.
“It seems counterintuitive and a lot of people just don’t realize that the shutdown is actually costing Minnesotans a lot of money,” said Minnesota Majority’s president, Jeff Davis. “There’s nothing positive about a prolonged shutdown and our shutdown cost clock is designed to present one of the consequences in a way that’s easy to understand at a glance.”
The shutdown clock has been designed to be shared across websites. Interested parties are invited to paste a small piece of code into their sites to display the clock.
The cost estimates are explained on Minnesota Majority’s shutdown site, www.stateshutdown.com. Unemployment and insurance benefits for idled state employees are costing Minnesota’s taxpayers as much as $13 million a week. Other cost factors include uncollected audits and commuter revenue, lottery income, other uncollected revenues and the costs of shutting down and restarting construction projects.
“This should be an eye-opener,” said Davis. “Even when it’s not operating, government can cost us money. The sooner Governor Dayton calls a special session to deal with funding state government operations, the better. Every day he delays, approximately $9 million is needlessly being flushed down the toilet.”