Q: The Cost Of A (Mostly) Successful Inauguration?

Photo by philliefan99.

But as the AP reported yesterday, the federal allocation which D.C. secured before the cermonies only covers $15 million of that amount, leaving us with around a $33.5 million balance on our tab.

So where's that money going to come from? Well, there's plenty of ways for the city to go about getting restitution. Well, since former President Bush declared a state of emergency about a week before the Inauguration, the District is entitled to make a claim for funds through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, although it's unclear how long that process would take. D.C. is also looking at fairly large uptick in revenues from hotel and sales taxes on the banner weekend. But it's far too early to ascertain how much, if any, of those funds would be used towards defusing the $33.5 million deficit.

WaPo's David Nakamura has a much more intricate breakdown of the costs incurred in the preparation and execution of Obama's swearing-in. Our personal favorite expense? "$3.6 million [for] special 800 megahertz radios." Where were these inside the purple tunnel of doom? (Over.)